Evaluation Of Bacteriophage Impeded Gel For The Treatment Of Bacterial Corneal Ulcer Experimentally Induced In Rabbits

To evaluate the role of bacteriophage impeded gel as a potential therapy for treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in rabbit cornea and to compare it with antibiotic treatment.

This study was conducted in the animal lab of Medical Research Institute, Alexandria University, Egypt, in
collaboration with Ophthalmology, Microbiology and pathology departments of Alexandria Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria, Egypt.

This is an interventional experimental study including both eyes of 15 adult male rabbits (30 eyes). P. aeruginosa (10⁸ CFU/mL) was injected intrastromal into the cornea of all eyes to induce keratitis. The rabbits were divided into three groups (10 eyes for each). Group (A) received no treatment (positive control), Group (B) received phage impeded in HPMC hydrogel (10¹⁰ PFU/mL) once per day. Group (C)  received Gatifloxacin eye drops every 4 hours from day 5 to day 10. Daily clinical signs was graded and recorded, Intraocular pressure was measured. On day 10, all corneas were removed for microbiology and histopathology evaluation.

The mean clinical signs score eyes treated with bacteriophage impeded gel showed statistically significant clinical improvement from the fourth day (2.05 ± 0.701) to the tenth day (1.43 ± 0.84) of treatment. This improvement was equivalent to that of antibiotic treatment with significant decrease in ulcer size in relation to the positive control group with no significant effect on IOP (p-value 0.938). The median CFU/ml declined on group C and D but with no statistically significant values between both groups (p-value <0.01). Histopathological examination revealed better improvement of inflammatory signs on bacteriophage impeded gel treated group equivalent to antibiotic treated group in comparison with the control group.

Bacteriophage impeded gel was as effective as antibiotics in the treatment of p. aeruginosa keratitis in rabbits. It may be considered for treatment of bacterial corneal ulcer.