Recently, the treatment of infected wounds has become a global problem due to increased antibiotic resistance in bacteria. The Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa is often present in chronic skin infections, and it has become a thr

چکیده مقاله

Recently, the treatment of infected wounds has become a global problem due to increased
antibiotic resistance in bacteria. The Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa is
often present in chronic skin infections, and it has become a threat to public health as it is increasingly
multidrug resistant. Due to this, new measures to enable treatment of infections are necessary.
Treatment of bacterial infections with bacteriophages, known as phage therapy, has been in use
for a century, and has potential with its antimicrobial effect. The main purpose of this study was
to create a phage-containing wound dressing with the ability to prevent bacterial infection and
rapid wound healing without side effects. Several phages against P. aeruginosa were isolated from
wastewater, and two polyvalent phages were used to prepare a phage cocktail. The phage cocktail
was loaded in a hydrogel composed of polymers of sodium alginate (SA) and carboxymethyl cellulose
(CMC). To compare the antimicrobial effects, hydrogels containing phages, ciprofloxacin, or phages
plus ciprofloxacin were produced, and hydrogels without either. The antimicrobial effect of these
hydrogels was investigated in vitro and in vivo using an experimental mouse wound infection model.
The wound-healing process in different mouse groups showed that phage-containing hydrogels and
antibiotic-containing hydrogels have almost the same antimicrobial effect. However, in terms of
wound healing and pathological process, the phage-containing hydrogels performed better than the
antibiotic alone. The best performance was achieved with the phage–antibiotic hydrogel, indicating
a synergistic effect between the phage cocktail and the antibiotic. In conclusion, phage-containing
hydrogels eliminate efficiently P. aeruginosa in wounds and may be a proper option for treating
infectious wounds.