Dressings loaded with cyclodextrin-hamamelitannin complexes increase Staphylococcus aureus susceptibility toward antibiotics both in single as well as in mixed biofilm communities

Bacteria reside within biofilms at the infection site, making them extremely difficult to eradicate with conventional wound care products. Bacteria use quorum sensing (QS)systems to regulate biofilm formation, and QS inhibitors (QSIs) have been proposed as promising antibiofilm agents. Despite this, few antimicrobial therapies that interfere with QS exist. Nontoxic hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin-functionalized cellulose gauzes releasing a burst of the antibiotic vancomycin and the QSI hamamelitannin are developed, followed by a sustained release of both. The gauzes affect QS and biofilm formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus in an in vitro model of chronic wound infection and can be considered as candidates to be used to prevent wound infection as well as treat infected wounds