419 Uptake of PHMB in a BNC-Based Wound Dressing

Abstract

With the rise of antimicrobial resistance, other methods of preventing and fighting infections must be considered. Burn patients are especially prone to wound infections. The loading of bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) with antiseptics has already been successfully performed but unfortunately, the described procedure is time-consuming and thus not applicable in a clinical emergency setting. Therefore, a clinically feasible approach was established. Sheets of BNC-based wound dressings were placed into antiseptic solutions containing PHMB (Prontosan® and LAVANID® 2) and were left to soak for up to two hours. At different time points, punch biopsies were taken and analysed for their concentration of PHMB. Clinically relevant concentrations of PHMB were already achieved in the BNC-based wound dressing after 30 minutes. The 30-minute PHMB uptake for Prontosan® and LAVANID® 2 resulted in concentrations of 0.05 % and 0.019 %, respectively. The uptake from Prontosan® or LAVANID® 2 reached 95 % and 76 %, respectively, of the possible maximum. This experiment showed that the loading of BNC-based wound dressings with PHMB-containing antiseptics was achieved by a simple and time-saving procedure. Studies have already shown that a PHMB concentration as low as 0.001 % inhibits all bacterial growth, indicating that the concentrations of PHMB in the BNC-based wound dressings after 30 minutes are far higher than the minimal inhibitory concentration. This procedure is applicable in every clinical setting, where an antiseptic solution of PHMB, a BNC-based wound dressing and a metal kidney dish is available. With no special equipment needed no training is required to produce a PHMB loaded BNC-based wound dressing.