Eradication of enterococci biofilms by lactic acid alone and combined with chlorhexidine and cetrimide

Objective: The antimicrobial activity of lactic acid (LA) alone or in combination with chlorhexidine (CHX) and cetrimide (CTR) against three Enterococcus faecalis strains, E. faecalis ATCC 29212, E. faecalis EF-D1 and E. faecalis U-1765, one Enterococcus durans strain and one dual-species biofilm was investigated. Study Design: The irrigating solutions tested were 20%, 15%, 10%, 5% and 2.5% LA, alone and in combination with 2% CHX and with 0.2% CTR. The biofilms were grown in the MBEC (TM) high-throughput device for 24 hours and exposed to the solutions for 30 seconds and 1 minute. Eradication was defined as 100% bacterial kill. Results: Twenty percent LA eradicated all enterococci biofilms after 30 seconds contact time. The association of LA + 0.2% CTR achieved better results than LA alone, in contrast with the results obtained using LA + 2% CHX. E. durans was eradicated by all the tested solutions at 1 minute. The dual-species biofilm, E. faecalis ATCC 29212 + E. durans, gave intermediate values of the pure cultures. Conclusions: LA is capable of eradicating enterococci biofilm at a concentration of 20%. The combination of lower concentrations with 0.2% CTR achieved eradication after 1 minute.