title: Inhibition of Staphylococcus aureus Adhesion to the Surface of a Reticular Heavyweight Polypropylene Mesh Soaked in a Combination of Chlorhexidine and Allicin: An In vitro Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Presoaking meshes for hernia repair with antiseptics prior to implantation could decrease the adhesion of microorganisms to the material surface and reduce the risk of antibiotic resistances. In this work, we evaluate chlorhexidine and allicin (natural antiseptic not yet tested for these purposes) against vancomycin as antiseptics to be used in the pretreatment of a heavyweight polypropylene mesh using an in vitro model of bacterial contamination.
  
  
  METHODS
  Solutions of saline, vancomycin (40 µg/mL), allicin (1,000 µg/mL), chlorhexidine (2%-0.05%) and the combination allicin-chlorhexidine (900 µg/mL-0.05%) were analyzed with agar diffusion tests in the presence of 106 CFU Staphylococcus aureus ATCC25923. Additionally, sterile fragments of Surgipro (1 cm2) were soaked with the solutions and cultured onto contaminated agar plates for 24/48/72 h. The antimicrobial material DualMesh Plus was utilized as positive control. At every time, the inhibition zones were measured and the bacterial adhesion to the mesh surface quantified (sonication, scanning electron microscopy). Cytotoxicity of the treatments was examined (alamarBlue) using rabbit skin fibroblasts.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The largest zones of inhibition were created by allicin-chlorhexidine. Chlorhexidine was more effective than vancomycin, and allicin lost its effectiveness after 24 h. No bacteria adhered to the surface of the DualMesh Plus or the meshes soaked with vancomycin, chlorhexidine and allicin-chlorhexidine. On the contrary, saline and allicin allowed adherence of high loads of bacteria. Vancomycin had no toxic effects on fibroblasts, while allicin and chlorhexidine exerted high toxicity. Cytotoxicity was significantly reduced with the allicin-chlorhexidine combination.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The use of antiseptics such as chlorhexidine, alone or combined with others like allicin, could represent an adequate prophylactic strategy to be used for hernia repair materials because soaking with these agents provides the mesh with similar antibacterial properties to those observed after soaking with vancomycin, similar to the effect of DualMesh Plus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Medical and Social Sciences. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. University of Alcalá. Madrid, Spain; Networking Research Center on Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN). Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Bárbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pérez-Köhler
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Medical and Social Sciences. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. University of Alcalá. Madrid, Spain; Networking Research Center on Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN). Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Francisca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: García-Moreno
authors.affiliation: Covidien-Sofradim Production, Trévoux, France.
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bayon
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine and Medical Specialties. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. University of Alcalá. Madrid, Spain; Networking Research Center on Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN). Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Gemma
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pascual
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Medical and Social Sciences. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. University of Alcalá. Madrid, Spain; Networking Research Center on Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN). Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bellón
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001422:Bacterial Adhesion / Q000187:drug effects*; D058491:Bacterial Load; D002710:Chlorhexidine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004220:Disulfides; D059685:Herniorrhaphy; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D050296:Microbial Viability / Q000187:drug effects; D011126:Polypropylenes; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000517:prevention & control; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D013441:Sulfinic Acids / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013526:Surgical Mesh / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D004220:Disulfides; D011126:Polypropylenes; D013441:Sulfinic Acids; C006452:allicin; D002710:Chlorhexidine