Control of surface wound infection: skin versus synthetic grafts.

Auto-, iso-, or xenografts of skin and synthetics placed on surface wounds freshly contaminated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa stabilizes the wound bacterial population in rats over a 24-h period. When these wounds contained a bacterial contamination established for 24 h prior to grafting, only skin and the synthetic polyhydroxyethylmethacrylate were effective in lowering the initial bacterial concentration. Polyurethane foam and nylon velour were not effective in the established infection model. Skin placed on a contaminated wound for 2 h or longer appeared to equilibrate with the underlying muscle so that the bacterial count per milligram of skin was similar to that of the muscle. It was suggested that this preparation would be useful to obtain an estimate of surface contamination without biopsy of the infected muscle. Skin grafts in place for 2 h significantly lowered the bacterial count in a wound with an established infection. A second decrease occurred between 4 and 24 h after grafting. Histological studies of contaminated and exposed panniculus muscle showed that leukocytes tend to migrate from the muscle surface to its base. Skin grafts and polyhydroxyethylmethacrylate appear to reverse the white cell migration so that the cells move toward the surface of the muscle with preservation of normal staining characteristics in the muscle. It is suggested that this alteration in cell movement after graft application might modify the white cell function and result in a greater bactericidal activity. Apparently, grafts lower bacterial levels in an established infection by modifying the host response to the surface contamination.