Breaking through bacterial barriers in chronic treatment-resistant wounds (Simple combo therapy reduces diabetic MRSA infections 94%)

Medical Xpress / University of North Carolina Health Care / Cell Chemical Biology ^ | May 22, 2023 | Virginie Papadopoulou et al

[ConservativeMind]

Chronic wounds are open sores or injured tissue that fail to heal properly. These types of wounds are notoriously challenging to treat because of bacterial infections like Staphylococcus aureus, or S. aureus.

To defend itself from our immune system, S. aureus can band together, creating a slick, slimy forcefield—or biofilm—around itself. The biofilm barrier is so thick that neither immune cells nor antibiotics can penetrate through and neutralize the harmful bacteria.

Researchers have developed a method that combines palmitoleic acid, gentamicin, and non-invasive ultrasound to help improve drug delivery in chronic wounds infected with S. aureus.

Using their strategy, researchers were able to reduce the challenging MRSA infection in the wounds of diabetic mice by 94%. They were able to completely sterilize wounds in several of the mice, and the rest had significantly reduced bacterial burden.

Biofilms act as a physical barrier to many classes of antibiotics. Virginie Papadopoulou, Ph.D., was curious to know if non-invasive cavitation-enhanced ultrasound could create enough agitation to facilitate drug-delivery.

The oscillation agitates the biofilm, both mechanically disrupting it as well as increasing fluid flow. Ultimately, the combination of the biofilm disruption and the increased permeation of the drugs through the biofilm allowed the drugs to come in and kill the bacterial biofilm with very high efficiency.

Researchers chose gentamicin, a topical antibiotic typically ineffective against S. aureus due to widespread antibiotic resistance and poor activity against persister cells. The researchers also introduced a novel antibiotic adjuvant, palmitoleic acid.

Palmitoleic acid, an unsaturated fatty acid, is a natural product of the human body that has strong antibacterial properties. The fatty acid embeds itself into the membrane of bacterial cells, and the authors discovered that it facilitates the antibiotic's successful entry into S. aureus cells and is able to kill persister cells and reverse antibiotic resistance.

[ConservativeMind]

This could be implemented quickly by your doctor.

[ConservativeMind]

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[Go_Raiders]

I wonder how it would perform if they used oil of oregano on the control group. And a honey glaze on surface wounds...

[Secret Agent Man]

Much, much better. They’d still charge you thousands though.

[ConservativeMind]

You are making me hungry, and I just ate.

[Getready]

Maybe could work on other deep infections. Like bone, lung, or prostate.

[bgill]

I’ve been reading about biofilm lately. Breaking through that seems to be the trick.