Bacteriostatic effects of hyaluronic acid

Background: This investigation is one of a series of projects seeking to as certain whether hyaluronic acid (HA) is therapeutically effective in tissue regeneration procedures. The rationale for these investigations is to test the hypothesis that HA can serve as a bioabsorbable carrier for other subs trates as well as itself actively promote the regeneration of tissue. Methods: In this paper, we report on the bacteriostatic and bactericidal pr operties of 3 molecular weight formulations of recombinant HA (low, 141 kD; medium, 757 kD; and high, 1,300 kD) on selected oral and non-oral microorg anisms in the planktonic phase. Three concentrations of each HA formulation were screened, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 mg/ml, using a standard broth culture ass ay. Results: Recombinant HA exerted varied bacteriostatic effects on all the ba cterial strains tested depending on its molecular weight (MW) and concentra tion, The high concentrations of the medium MW HA had the greatest bacterio static effect, particularly on the Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, Pr evotella oris, Staphylococcus aureus, and Propionibacterium acnes strains. The 1.0 mg/ml concentration of high MW HA had the greatest overall bacterio static effect, inhibiting the growth of all 6 bacterial strains tested. Amo ng the bacterial strains studied, HA was found to have no bactericidal effe cts, regardless of concentration or molecular weight. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that HA in the MW range of 1 ,300 kD may prove beneficial in minimizing bacterial contamination of surgi cal wounds when used in guided tissue regeneration surgery.