Microbial infections typically co-exist with inflammation, driving chronic disruption of skin barrier integrity and impediments in wound repair mechanisms. For farmers, bovine mastitis is a persistent and growing challenge in this context. Improper management negatively impacts animal welfare management, public health, and the livestock economy, mastitis costs the global dairy industry more than AU$30.1 billion annually. Historically, antibiotics have been employed to manage such infections, although widespread use has led to the emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, globally. Alarmingly, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection in humans, has been traced back to livestock, confirmation that resistant strains readily traverse the entire livestock food chain. There is an urgent need to reduce the use of conventional antibiotics, and find safe, effective alternatives.
Wine by-products contain a significant quantity of phenolic substances capable of antibacterial, antioxidant and analgesic properties, including phenolic acids, flavonoids, tannins and alkaloids. Besides, phenolic compounds also inhibit biofilm formation and promote wound recovery/healing by modulating bacterial regulatory mechanisms. Driven by the trend towards sustainable agriculture and consumer preference for nature-derived products, there is growing interest in redirecting the abundance of wine waste products for animal skin health management. Tannin-containing solutes present an untapped opportunity, having the potential to be used as a substitute or adjunctive therapy for the care of acute and chronic skin conditions affecting livestock.
Most topical antimicrobial preparations have poor transdermal permeability and lack sustained drug delivery. Moreover, natural products currently used for mastitis management in ruminants exhibit low stability and biodegradability. In contrast, soluble-gels based on poloxamers can be used synergistically with antimicrobial extracts, such as tannins, to enhance their stability and effectiveness in preventing and treating skin ailments. In practice, sol-gels are liquids at/near ambient temperature, thus they’re applicable to a spray system for broad skin delivery. They rapidly form a gel upon skin contact, with good biocompatibility and adhesion, prolonging drug contact time and extending the absorption window, enabling continuous drug delivery from a single application. This provides an effective, scalable tannin stabilisation system leading to controlled release of potent antimicrobial wine by-product extracts, for the global animal skin health market.