Microbicide excipients can greatly increase susceptibility to genital herpes transmission in the mouse

BMC Infectious Diseases

Table 1 Summary of Susceptibility Studies: Mice challenged with 1 ID₅₀ after pre-treatment with test agent or control

Test Agent administered 12 h before viral challenge	Fraction infected after Test Agent	Fraction infected after PBS Control	P value	Fold-increase in susceptibility	Osmolality (mOsm/kg)
Methylparaben/propylparaben (0.18%/0.02%) in HEC gel	19/60 (32%)	20/60 (33%)	1		374
Benzyl alcohol (1%) in HEC gel	26/60 (43%)	26/60 (43%)	1		338
Disodium EDTA (0.1%) in HEC gel	59/90 (66%)	52/90 (58%)	0.095	2*	376
Disodium EDTA (0.0186%) in HEC gel	10/60 (17%)	14/60 (23%)	0.49		341
Propylene glycol (10%) in HEC gel	38/60 (63%)	33/60 (55%)	0.46		1,770
Glycerin (10%) in HEC gel	15/60 (25%)	23/60 (38%)	0.17	2*	1,700
Glycerin (30%) in HEC gel	32/59 (54%)	20/59 (34%)	0.04	3	4,280
GML (5%) in K-Y Warming Jelly	59/60 (98%)	28/60 (47%)♦	< 0.0001	> 10	10,100
K-Y Warming Jelly (neat)	57/60 (95%)		< 0.0001	> 9	10,300
GML (5%) colloidal suspension in PBS	48/60 (80%)	33/60 (55%)	0.006	5	329
Propylene glycol (neat)	55/60 (92%)	28/59 (47%)♦	< 0.0001	10	9,990
Polyethylene glycol (PEG-8) (neat)	55/60 (92%)		< 0.0001	10	5,610

♦ Control for both agents in the adjacent column in a three-arm experiment.
* Fold-increases were calculated for these formulations because of their strong, though not statistically significant, trends toward increased susceptibility.

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