Ex vivo skin infection model.

Abstract

Over the past decade, the emergence of bacterial strains resistant to conventional antibiotics has necessitated the discovery and development of new antimicrobial therapies. This chapter describes a skin infection model that is based on the use of excised skin derived from the domestic pig. The model conditions mimic the environment of human skin and efficiently support the growth of clinically relevant bacterial and fungal species, thus making it useful for evaluating the activity of antimicrobial peptides and other antibiotics as well as their respective formulations.