A Novel In Vitro Method to Assess the Microbial Barrier Function of Tissue Adhesives Using Bioluminescence Imaging Technique

Abstract

Background. Tissue glues can minimize treatment invasiveness, mitigate the risk of infection, and reduce surgery time; ergo, they have been developed and used in surgical procedures as wound closure devices beside sutures, staples, and metallic grafts. Regardless of their structure or function, tissue glues should show an acceptable microbial barrier function before being used in humans. This study proposes a novel in vitro method using Escherichia coli Lux and bioluminescence imaging technique to assess the microbial barrier function of tissue glues. Different volumes and concentrations of E. coli Lux were applied to precured or cured polyurethane-based tissue glue placed on agar plates. Plates were cultured for 1 h, 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h with bioluminescence signal measurement subsequently. Herein, protocol established a volume of 5 μL of a 1 : 100 dilution of E. coli Lux containing around 2 × 10⁷ CFU/mL as optimal for testing polyurethane-based tissue glue. Measurement of OD_600nm, determination of CFU/mL, and correlation with the bioluminescence measurement in p/s unit resulted in a good correlation between CFU/mL and p/s and demonstrated good reproducibility of our method. In addition, this in vitro method could show that the tested polyurethane-based tissue glue can provide a reasonable barrier against the microbial penetration and act as a bacterial barrier for up to 48 h with no penetration and up to 72 h with a low level of penetration through the material. Overall, we have established a novel, sensitive, and reproducible in vitro method using the bioluminescence imaging technique for testing the microbial barrier function of new tissue glues.