In Vitro S. epidermidis and S. aureus Adherence to Composite and Lightweight Polypropylene Grafts1
Received 17 January 2009 published online 15 May 2009.
Background
Despite the significant risk of infection, prosthetic graft materials have become indispensable for incisional hernia repair. Composite and lightweight grafts have been developed to overcome adhesion and rigidity. The aim of this study was to evaluate in vitro S. epidermidis and S. aureus adherence to these new generation grafts, which have modified composition and textile properties.
Materials and Methods
In this experimental study, sterile samples of multifilament polypropylene, multifilament lightweight composite, monofilament composite, and monofilament polypropylene grafts were incubated with slime positive S. epidermidis and S. aureus strains for 24 h. The grafts were washed and vortexed in saline. The saline was passaged to blood agar and incubated for 24 h. The colonies were counted. Naïve and incubated graft materials were examined by scanning electron microscopy to reveal both textile properties and biofilm formation. Physicochemical properties were evaluated. Wilcoxon signed ranks test and Friedman test were used for statistical analysis.
Results
S. epidermidis showed a significantly decreased adherence to monofilament polypropylene graft, and increased adherence to multifilament polypropylene graft (P<0.05). S. aureus showed a significant affinity for monofilament composite graft (P<0.05). SEM studies showed that biofilm formation was present on multifilament polypropylene graft.
Conclusions
Both S. epidermidis and S. aureus had significantly less adherence to multifilament lightweight composite than multifilament polypropylene graft. S. epidermidis showed a greater affinity to monofilament composite graft compared with monofilament polypropylene graft. Overall S. epidermidis adherence for multifilament lightweight composite and monofilament composite was less than multifilament polypropylene and higher than monofilament polypropylene. S. epidermidis and S. aureus showed different adherence for each graft. Changes in material composition and textile properties may well influence bacterial adherence.
∗Department of General Surgery, Kirikkale University Medical School, Suleyman Demirel Research and Training Hospital, Kirikkale, Turkey
†Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Kirikkale University Medical School, Suleyman Demirel Research and Training Hospital, Kirikkale, Turkey
‡Department of Chemistry, Nanotechnology, and Nanomedicine Division, Hacettepe University, Faculty of Science, Beytepe, Ankara, Turkey
To whom correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed at Kirikkale Universitesi Tip Fakultesi, Genel Cerrahi A.D. Fabrikalar Mah. Saglik Cad.
1 The preliminary design and preliminary data of this study were presented at the 2nd Congress of EKMUD (Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology Specialists), 29 April–03 May 2008, Ankara, Turkey.
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