A new study published in Spine examines how vancomycin and gentamicin antibiotics affect human osteoblast proliferation, metabolic function and bone mineralization during spine surgery.
The study authors exposed primary human osteoblasts to phosphate buffered saline control, vancomycin, gentamicin or providone-idodine for 20 minutes and measured cellular proliferation during the following seven days. The researchers found:
1. The gentamicin and vancomycin "induced a transient 15 percent to 20 percent reduction to osteoblast proliferation" when used at concentrations advocated for wound irrigation. The osteoblast proliferation returned to control values within 72 hours.
2. The PVI resulted in sustained osteoblast proliferation reduction of between 40 percent and 50 percent for the seven days after exposure.
3. The gentamicin and vancomycin administered up to 10 times the clinical dose didn't impact the osteoblast oxygen consumption rate.
4. The mineralized bone nodule formation wasn't affected by the gentamicin or vancomycin concentrations up to 10 times the clinical dose.
5. The study authors concluded vancomycin and gentamicin solutions "have a small but transient effect on osteoblast proliferation and no effect on either osteoblast metabolic function or bone nodule mineralization" when administered at the concentrations advocated for: 35 or 3.5 mmol/L of vancomycin and 34 or 3.4 mmol/L of gentamicin.