Comparison of antibacterial properties of commercial bone cements and fillers with a zinc-based glass polyalkenoate cement

• Published in: Journal of materials science Vol. 45; no. 19; pp. 5244 - 5251
• Main Authors: Wren, A. W., Cummins, N. M., Towler, M. R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.10.2010; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agar; Analysis; Antibacterial agents; Antibiotics; Bacteria; Bone cements; Cement; Cements; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Classical Mechanics; Crystallography and Scattering Methods; E coli; Effectiveness; Escherichia coli; Fillers; Glass; Health aspects; Infection; Materials Science; Plastic surgery; Polymer Sciences; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Solid Mechanics; Spine; Surgery, Plastic; Zinc; Zinc compounds; Polyacrylic Acid; Agar Diffusion Test; Tobramycin; Antibacterial Efficacy; Antibacterial Property
• ISSN: 0022-2461; 1573-4803
• DOI: 10.1007/s10853-010-4566-5

Postoperative infection following invasive surgical procedures is a significant cause for concern, particularly in spinal reconstructive surgery. The objective of this study is to compare the antibacterial efficacy of a novel zinc-based glass polyalkenoate cement (Zn-GPC) based on 0.04SrO–0.12CaO–0.36ZnO–0.48SiO 2 glass, to a number of commercially available bone cements and fillers including Simplex P + Tobramycin (S Tob ), Spineplex (S pine ) and Novabone Putty (N Put ). The agar diffusion test was performed on each material against Escherichia coli , Staphlococcus epidermidis , Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphlococcus Aureus. S Tob was found to produce large inhibition zones in each of the bacteria tested and was statistically significantly higher than any other material. The experimental Zn-GPC (B TSC ) was found to exhibit antibacterial properties in both E. coli and S. epidermidis . Neither S pine nor N Put showed any inhibitory effect in any of the bacteria tested. A study was also performed to determine the effect of antibiotic release from S Tob and Zn-GPC (B Tob ) containing the antibiotic tobramycin (Tob). Antibacterial efficacy was found to increase with respect to maturation with B Tob , whereas S Tob was found to decrease significantly over the time period of 0–14 days. The final objective is to investigate any change in agar composition during the agar-diffusion test. Little change was observed for S Tob as antibiotic release cannot be determined using EDX. There was, however, an increase in Zn levels when analysing B TSC which suggests that Zn is playing a role in the antimicrobial nature of the Zn-GPC. No significant changes were observed for S pine or N Put .