Enhanced Sporicidal Activity of Alcohol and Epigallocatechin-Palmitate-Based Hand Hygiene Formulations Comprised of Plant-Derived Compounds

摘要

Pathogenic spore-forming bacteria pose high risks to healthcare settings, as well as in the food and beverage industries. We reported recently that novel alcohol-based formulations containing plant-derived compounds, including epigallocatechin-3-gallate-palmitate (EGCG-P), a green tea polyphenol ester, provide > 99.99% inactivation of bacterial spores within 60 sec. Based on recently published data from our group and others, we hypothesize that a combination of EGCG-P and alcohol formulated with other plant-derived ingredients would achieve high sporicidal efficacy against a wide spectrum of bacterial spores and can provide novel hand hygiene methods against bacterial spores without toxicity. The objectives of the current study were to optimize style="font-size:12px;font-family:Verdana;">two novel formulations with combinations of glycerol, citric acid, and EGCG-P style="font-size:12px;font-family:Verdana;"> to increase sporicidal activity and explore the rapid inactivation mechanisms and suitability for sporicidal products with broad-spectrum activities against aerobic and anaerobic bacterial spores. Methods included suspension testing of two formulations against spores from style="font-size:12px;font-family:Verdana;">Bacillus cereus style="font-size:12px;font-family:Verdana;"> and style="font-size:12px;font-family:Verdana;">Clostridium sporogenes style="font-size:12px;font-family:Verdana;">, quantification of spore germination, and scanning electron microscopy. The results demonstrated that these novel formulations were able to reduce spore germination by >99.999% after 30 sec exposure in style="font-size:12px;font-family:Verdana;">suspension tests, and rapidly caused physical damage to the spores. Additional style="font-family:'''';font-size:10pt;"> style="line-height:1.5;font-family:Verdana;">studies style="font-family:'''';font-size:10pt;"> style="line-height:1.5;font-family:Verdana;">arexa0 style="line-height:1.5;font-family:Verdana;">warranted to determine the suitability of the novel formulations for future hand hygiene use.