Effect of Topically Applied Silver Sulfadiazine on Fibroblast Cell Proliferation and Biomechanical Properties of the Wound

The effect of silver sulfadiazine (SSD) on the proliferation of human dermal fibroblast (HDF) was studied to determine the impact of the drug on the wound healing process and dermal mechanical strength. Human dermal fibroblasts were cultured to 80% confluency using DMEM with 10% FBS and viability of the cell was estimated using neutral red assay. In addition, the $2^{nd}$ degree burn wound was prepared on the anterior part of rabbit ear skin and dressings containing SSD were applied for 96 h. Presence of inflammatory cells and degree of re-epithelialization were investigated in the wound. After 15 day of the induction of burn wounds, the treated area was excised and dermal mechanical strength was quantitatively measured with a constant speed tensiometer. SSD was found to be highly cyto-toxic in cultured HDF cells. The topical application of SSD (2%) could control the infection as evidenced by the lack of accumulation of inflammatory cells in histological evaluation. Therefore, these observations suggested that the impairment of dermal regeneration and decreased mechanical strength of dermal tissue was resulted from the cyto-toxic effect of SSD on dermal cells. Since the decreased mechanical strength may lead to reduction in resilience, toughness and maximum extension of the tissue, the identification of optimum dose for SSD that limits infection while minimizes the cyto-toxic effect may be clinically relevant.