Lactic acid, vaginal

Caramella, C.M., M.C. Bonferoni, and P. Giunchedi. 2003. Compositions with controlled release of lactic acid at vaginal level. Patent WO 03/000224. 

Bonferoni, M.C., et al. 2001. Characterization of vaginal chitosan gel intended for lactic acid delivery. In AAPS annual meeting, Denver, 21-25. 

Otero, M. C., Morelli, L., and Nader-Macias, M. E. (2006), Probiotic properties of vaginal lactic acid bacteria to prevent metritis in cattle, Lett. Appl. Microbiol., 43, 91-97. 

Probiotics (literally, replacing bad germs with good ones) have been studied. For example, lactic acid-producing bacteria such as Lactobacillus acidophilus, which acidifies the intestinal contents and is a normal inhabitant of the human intestine, have been used in the treatment of vaginal and gastrointestinal disorders. 

Major Applications Waveguides, fuel cells, sensors,4 sol-gel technology, display device, falsification-proof security paper, paints, detergents, identifying fresh and stale rice, detecting lactic acid bacteria," dental materials,vaginal infection test method ... 

Vaginal solutions usually contain active substances dissolved in water and are intended for a local effect. The Ph. Eur. describes solutions as well as emulsions and suspensions. Only solutions are seen in pharmacy practice and just occasionally such as lactic acid solutions, with or without sodium lactate, iodinated povidone (povidone-iodine) solutions and chlorhexidine digluconate solutions. Accordingly, this chapter discusses the solutions only. Solutions may be prepared either ready-for-use, or as a concentrate to be diluted before use, or as a tablet to be dissolved in water shortly before use. 

When the physiological pH of the vagina (pH = 3.5-4.5) is not maintained the microbiological balance in the vagina may become disturbed. Therefore the solution should have a physiological pH. Especially when the vaginal solution is intended for correction or support of the pH, for instance a lactic acid solution, a buffered solution is preferred. 

Lactobacilli are present in the vaginal microbiota of healthy cows. Some works have explored their capacity to prevent pathogen colonization by mechanisms such as the production of antagonistic substances as lactic acid, H O, or bacteriocins (Otero et al. 2006 Otero and Nader-Macias 2006 Nader-Macias et al. 2008). 

Since carrageenan might have utility as a topical microbicide for preventing the sexual transmission of HPVs, it is important to consider the fact that human vaginal pH is typically below 4.5 [102], Experiments performed in culture medium buffered to pH 4.5 or 5.0 with lactic or acetic acid, respectively, showed that (-carrageenan remained effective for blocking infectivity under... 

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