Efficacy of a novel antimicrobial hydrogel for eradication of Staphylococcus epidermidis , Staphylococcus aureus and Cutibacterium acnes from preformed biofilm and treatment performance in an in vivo MRSA wound model

BACKGROUND: Bacterial biofilm formation is a complicating factor in the antimicrobial treatment of bacterial infections. OBJECTIVES: efficacy of MRSA wound treatment. METHODS: Biofilms were exposed to JBC 1847 for 24 h and subsequently the treatments were neutralized and surviving biofilm-associated bacteria recovered and enumerated. The efficacy of the hydrogel on post-treatment load of MRSA was determined in a murine model of MRSA wound infection, and skin samples of the infected mice were examined histologically to evaluate the degree of healing. RESULTS: A concentration-dependent eradication of biofilm-embedded bacteria by JBC 1847 was observed for all three pathogens, and the hydrogel caused a greater than four log reduction of cfu in all cases. In the mouse model, treatment with the hydrogel significantly reduced the cfu/mL of MRSA compared with treatment of MRSA-infected wounds with pure hydrogel. Histopathological analysis of the wounds showed that the JBC 1847 treatment group had a lower grade of inflammation, a higher mean score of re-epithelization and higher mean scores of parameters assessing the maturity of the newly formed epidermis, compared with both the fusidic acid 2% and vehicle treatment groups. CONCLUSIONS: The novel hydrogel shows promising results as a candidate for future wound treatment, likely to be highly effective even in the case of biofilm-complicating infected wounds.