Topical use of hinokitiol ointment in atopic dermatitis patients

with special reference to colony count of Staphylococcus aureus on the surfaces of atopic dermatitis

Abstract

We used hinokitiol ointment in the treatment of various cutaneous manifestations of atopic dermatitis and counted the number of Staphylococcus aureus cells on the lesional skin surfaces before and after treatment. After the use of hinokitiol ointment the efficacy rate was 51.5%(17/33cases) for the severity of skin lesions and 48.5%(16/33cases) in itching. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) for hinokitiol against S. aureus showed a peak MIC distribution at 64μg/ml, but the peak was shifted to 2μg/ml by adding ZnCl₂ or ZNo.The addition of ZnO increased the bactericidal activity of hinokitiol against some strains of S. aureus. The mechanism of action of this agent is unknown, but may be related to its antistaphylococcal activity in some cases.