Furanone loaded aerogels are effective antibiofilm therapeutics in a model of chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa wound infection

Chris R. Proctor, Megan G. Taggart, Barry M.G. O'Hagan, Paul A. McCarron, Ronan R. McCarthy, Nigel Ternan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)
63 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Almost 80% of chronic wounds have a bacterial biofilm present. These wound biofilms are caused by a range of organisms and are often polymicrobial. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the most common causative organisms in wound infections and readily forms biofilms in wounds. To coordinate this, P. aeruginosa uses a process known as quorum sensing. Structural homologues of the quorum sensing signalling molecules have been used to disrupt this communication and prevent biofilm formation by Pseudomonas. However, these compounds have not yet reached clinical use. Here, we report the production and characterisation of a lyophilised PVA aerogel for use in delivering furanones to wound biofilms. PVA aerogels successfully release a model antimicrobial and two naturally occurring furanones in an aqueous environment. Furanone loaded aerogels inhibited biofilm formation in P. aeruginosa by up to 98.80%. Further, furanone loaded aerogels successfully reduced total biomass of preformed biofilms. Treatment with a sotolon loaded aerogel yielded a 5.16 log reduction in viable biofilm bound cells in a novel model of chronic wound biofilm, equivalent to the current wound therapy Aquacel AG. These results highlight the potential utility of aerogels in drug delivery to infected wounds and supports the use of biofilm inhibitory compounds as wound therapeutics.
Original languageEnglish
Article number100128
Pages (from-to)1-10
Number of pages10
JournalBiofilm
Volume5
Early online date5 May 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 31 Dec 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors

Data Access Statement

Data will be made available on request

Keywords

  • wound model
  • biofilm inhibition
  • pseudomonas aeruginosa
  • furanones
  • aerogels

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