The establishment of a Pseudomonas aeruginosa-infected burn-wound sepsis model and the effect of imipenem treatment

Yoav Barnea, Yehuda Carmeli, Boris Kuzmenko, Eyal Gur, Orly Hammer-Munz, Shiri Navon-Venezia

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: We present a standardized Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) infected burn-wound model in mice for evaluating new antimicrobials and therapy strategies for PA infections and demonstrate the effect of the antibiotic imipenem in this model. METHODS: A 6%-8% total body surface area, full-thickness, scald-burn wound was induced in anesthetized mice. Two study groups (PA-infected burn) were compared with 1 treatment group (systemic imipenem) and 3 control groups (noninfected burn, infected nonburned, and burn with distant infection). Seven-day mortality, quantitative culture from eschars and from spleens, weight loss, and time to healing were compared. RESULTS: The 25%-100% mortality rate in the nontreated PA-infected burn group was directly related to the infecting inoculum. Imipenem treatment reduced the mortality rate to 0-17%. No control animal died. Systemic bacterial dissemination at 48 hours was significantly higher in the study group. Morbidity paralleled survival results. Wound healing was quicker in the imipenem-treated group and control groups compared with the infected nontreated group. CONCLUSIONS: The mice model is a useful tool for evaluating new antibacterial agents and strategies for treating PA-infected burn injuries. Imipenem was found to be efficacious in the treatment of severe PA sepsis.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)674-679
Number of pages6
JournalAnnals of Plastic Surgery
Volume56
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2006
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Imipenem treatment
  • Infected burn wound
  • Murine model
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa

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