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An Intact Ex Vivo Pigskin Model for Evaluating Topical Treatments for Blepharitis-Associated Biofilms
Aaron Strickland1, James Gras1, Ellen Lantz1
1iFyber, Ithaca, New York, USA.
Importance:
Blepharitis is a chronic inflammatory condition of the eyelid margin that impacts millions of adults and children. Its etiology is unclear, and its treatment remains unsatisfactory.
Objective:
To develop an intact ex vivo pigskin model to evaluate the etiology of and to determine effective treatments for blepharitis.
Design:
Mature bacterial biofilms of Staphylococcus epidermidis were generated on intact pigskin explants. These biofilms were treated topically for 24 h before quantifying the residual biofilm bacteria.
Results:
The amount of total bacteria after treatment with phosphate buffered saline (PBS) was 7.29 log. Using common clinical treatments, the amount of bacteria was 5.05 log for 10 % povidone iodine (p < 0.05) and 4.96 log for 0.01% HOCl (p < 0.05). The amount of bacteria for gentamicin treatment was 6.38 log, which was not significant from phosphate buffered saline (PBS) treatment (p = NS). Using a prototype formulation, the level of bacteria was reduced to a non detectable level which was significantly lower than all other treatments (p < 0.05).
Conclusions And Relevance:
A model for studying bacterial biofilms on intact ex vivo pigskin explants was developed. Using this model, it was shown that a prototype formulation containing naturally derived antimicrobials and a biofilm disrupter was superior to several commonly used clinical treatments in eliminating biofilm bacteria. We believe this effective, antibiofilm formulation can be used safely in the eye for clinical applications.
