[The effect of silicon on the growth of Staphylococcus aureus]

Various studies on the effect of silicon on the development of chronic inflammatory diseases of the mucous membrane such as chronic sinusitis have been carried on for the past twenty years. Staphylococcus aureus is usually detected frequently in chronic sinusitis. In this study, proliferation of Staphylococcus aureus in various culture fluids with Si concentrations ranging from 10 to 410 ppm was observed through 16 hours by means of the measurement of optical density, protein concentration and viability count. As the result of this observation, higher concentration of Si in the culture fluid showed a remarkable growth accelerating effect on Staphylococcus aureus compared with normal culture fluid containing about 10 ppm of Si. High Si concentration in mucous membrane tissue was considered to help the growth of bacteria in the sinus.