Acidic Water Kills Bacteria in Infected Wounds Better Than Saline
- Authors
- Taro Makino, Jiro Jimi, Takuto Oyama, Akiko Eto, Seiji Takagi, Hiroyuki Ojimi
- Journal
- Wound
- Year
- 2011
- DOI
- 10.11310/jsswc.2.104
- Study Type
- Mouse
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- Japan
- Health Condition
- Wound Infections
- Body System
- Integumentary System
TL;DR
Washing wounds with electrolyzed acidic water (EAW) can be a safe and effective way to treat infections without causing harm to the tissue.
Key Finding
Electrolyzed acidic water irrigation reduced bacterial density on infected wounds in mice more effectively than saline solution, without causing tissue damage or inflammation.
Summary
Researchers tested whether acidic water made through electrolysis (a process using electricity to change water's properties) could help treat infected wounds in mice better than regular saline solution. They created infected wounds on mice and irrigated them with either saline solution or electrolyzed acidic water for three days. The acidic water treatment showed lower bacterial density (fewer bacteria) on the wounds compared to other treatments, and it did not damage or irritate the tissue.
Practical Takeaway
This is an early-stage animal study that suggests electrolyzed acidic water may have promise for wound treatment, but results in mice do not directly translate to humans. Much more research, including human trials, would be needed before any conclusions could be drawn about its effectiveness or safety for human wound care.
Abstract
Acidic water with a lower pH has strong anti-bacterial effects. We investigated the effects of irrigation with electrolyzed acidic water (EAW) on infected wounds in mice. Five-week-old female C57 BL/6J mice were used; a patch of their back skin was removed and covered by a plastic sheet, that had been inoculated with Staphylococcus aureus. We divided the mice into three groups: a non-irrigation (NI) group; saline solution irrigation (SI) group; and EAW irrigation (AI) group. Once a day for 3 days, closed wounds were irrigated with saline solution or EAW using a low pressure-irrigation device. At the end of study, mice were sacrificed and examined. There were no harmful effects of EAW, including deterioration and inflammation, were found in wounded tissue. Although a quantitative analysis of bacterial load on wounds did not show any significant differences among the groups, the AI group showed the lowest value among the groups and tended to be lower than NI group. Morphometric analysis of bacterial density on the wounds also showed the lowest density in the AI group compared to the other groups and the difference was significant. EAW, which did not show any injurious or irritating effect on the wounded tissue, showed equivalent or superior irrigation effects on wound infection compared to those obtained with saline solution. Therefore, irrigation of EAW could be an effective means of wound treatment.