title: Treatment of infected wounds with the antimicrobial peptide D2A21.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Infected wounds impose a significantly negative effect on patient care and recovery, as infection hinders normal wound healing, resulting in increased patient morbidity and mortality. More attention is being focused on addressing the problem of multidrug-resistant bacteria and the staggering costs and consequences resulting from this. Recently, newly evaluated antimicrobial peptides have been shown to be active against a wide variety of bacteria in in vitro studies. This study evaluates the use of a particular antimicrobial peptide, D2A21 (Pittsburgh, PA), to combat infection in an acutely infected wound model.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-eight Wistar rats were used to compare the effects of D2A21 to control vehicle, silver sulfadiazine (SSD), and Sulfamylon in this model. Two 1.5 x 1.5-cm full-thickness defects were created on the rat dorsum and were subsequently inoculated with 108 Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Animals underwent daily treatment with either D2A21 gel, control vehicle, SSD, or Sulfamylon. Animals were evaluated for survival differences.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Survival analysis at 21 days for the different treatment groups were as follows: 100% for the D2A21-treated animals, 50% for control-treated animals, 83% for Sulfamylon-treated animals, and 33% for SSD-treated animals.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  D2A21 antimicrobial peptide demonstrates significant activity compared with controls and standards of therapy. The promising effect of this topical peptide is clearly evident as shown by this study, and its further investigation as a potential agent in the fight against infected or chronic wounds is warranted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Plastic Surgery Institute, Springfield, Illinois 62794-9653, USA.
authors.forename: Charles P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Chalekson
authors.forename: Michael W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Neumeister
authors.forename: Jesse
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jaynes
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D002056:Burns / Q000150:complications* / Q000401:mortality; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D008297:Male; D010455:Peptides; D011552:Pseudomonas Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014946:Wound Infection / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; C430264:D2A21; D010455:Peptides