BACKGROUND: Our aim was to create an "in vitro" experimental model to study the direct effect of some gases used in videolaparoscopy, on bacterial growth, and compare them to the effect of ozone, a bactericidal gas. METHODS: We performed some assays with display of fifteen slide cultures of URIBAC type (Probac do Brasil, São Paulo- Brasil) sown with one of the three strains of different bacterias: Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Bacterial concentration was 104 ufc/ml. Exposure time was of one hour, with the flux of gases and the pressure kept constant in 2L/mm and 11mmHg, respectively. The used gases were carbon dioxide and helium, in a concentration of 99,99% for both, ozone 0.4% and compressed air as control. A group of four boards of each bacteria was left without display to the gases as a control for the dilution technique. The reading was carried through twenty four hours in incubator. RESULTS: The ozone promoted sterilization of 100% of the slide culture; the other gases did not promote significant changes in any of the slide cultures exposed to them, including controls. CONCLUSION: The expository model bred is practical and efficient. The gases currently used do no exert direct effect up on the tested bacteria. The ozone has a high bacterial effect, much greater than the other gases.
Ozone; Gases; Gases; Bacterial growth
