SOLUBILITY OF SILVER SULFADIAZINE IN PHYSIOLOGICAL MEDIA AND RELEVANCE TO TREATMENT OF THERMAL BURNS WITH SILVER SULFADIAZINE CREAM

Sliver sulfadiazine cream has been a standard treatment for burns over the past two decades. Although many studies have described the phenom enon of sliver absorption from burn wounds treated with sliver sulfadi azine, they failed to examine the chemistry underlying the absorption process: Silver chloride was assumed to form at the burn wound and abs orption of silver was believed to be negligible. Here we have develope d chemical model systems to investigate the interactions of silver sul fadiazine and silver chloride in direct contact with synthetic serum e lectrolyte solution (SSES), with SSES plus endogenous ligands or beef blood plasma, and with human serum. The results indicate that silver a bsorption from an acute burn site can be significant, because human se rum is capable of solubilizing silver. This finding is of concern, giv en the potential for silver toxicity as a direct consequence of applyi ng silver sulfadiazine to extensive burn wounds.