Turkish Neurosurgery 2014 , Vol 24 , Num 2
Antibacterial Effect of Royal Jelly for Preservation of Implant-Related Spinal Infection in Rat
Omur GUNALDI1, Yusuf Kenan DAGLIOGLU2, Bekir TUGCU1, Suna KIZILYILDIRIM3, Lutfi POSTALCI1, Ender OFLUOGLU1, Fatih KOKSAL3
1Bakirköy Research and Training Hospital for Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, Department of Neurosurgery, Istanbul, Turkey
2Cukurova University, Faculty of Medicine, Experimental Research Center, Saricam, Adana, Turkey
3Cukurova University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Microbiology, Saricam, Adana, Turkey
DOI : 10.5137/1019-5149.JTN.8517-13.0 AIM: Implant-related infections are still a significant problem in spinal surgical procedures. Many drugs and methods have been tried to prevent implant-related infections. Our objective in this study was to evaluate whether royal jelly, which was found to hinder the growth of MRSA, has any preventive role in the prognosis of an infection in rats in an implant-related infection model.

MATERIAL and METHODS: Rats were divided into 3 groups of eight rats. Group-1 consisted of rats that underwent only a spinal implant, group-2 included those rats that were inoculated bacteria together with a spinal implant and group-3 was administered royal jelly in addition to a spinal implant and infection.

RESULTS: The amount of bacteria that grew in vertebral columns and implants was more in Group-2 than in Group-3, which meant that the number of bacteria colonies that grew was more quantitatively. This difference was found to be statistically significant in vertebral columns, but not in implants.

CONCLUSION: Royal jelly could not fully prevent the MRSA infection in this model, but decreased the severity of infection noticeably. More objective and promising results may be obtained if royal jelly can be used at regular intervals in a different model to be designed with respect to implant-related infections. Keywords : Implant, Infection, Royal jelly, Spine, Staphylococcus aureus, Rat

Corresponding author : Omur Gunaldı, omurgunaldi@gmail.com