Department of Oral Biology, New Jersey Dental School, Newark, NJ 07103, USA.
J Dent Res. 2010 Mar;89(3):205-18. doi: 10.1177/0022034509359403. Epub 2010 Feb 5.
Like all sessile organisms, surface-attached communities of bacteria known as biofilms must release and disperse cells into the environment to colonize new sites. For many pathogenic bacteria, biofilm dispersal plays an important role in the transmission of bacteria from environmental reservoirs to human hosts, in horizontal and vertical cross-host transmission, and in the exacerbation and spread of infection within a host. The molecular mechanisms of bacterial biofilm dispersal are only beginning to be elucidated. Biofilm dispersal is a promising area of research that may lead to the development of novel agents that inhibit biofilm formation or promote biofilm cell detachment. Such agents may be useful for the prevention and treatment of biofilms in a variety of industrial and clinical settings. This review describes the current status of research on biofilm dispersal, with an emphasis on studies aimed to characterize dispersal mechanisms, and to identify environmental cues and inter- and intracellular signals that regulate the dispersal process. The clinical implications of biofilm dispersal and the potential therapeutic applications of some of the most recent findings will also be discussed.
与所有固着生物一样，被称为生物膜的附着在表面的细菌群落必须将细胞释放并分散到环境中，以定植新的地点。对于许多致病性细菌来说，生物膜的分散在细菌从环境储库传播到人类宿主、水平和垂直跨宿主传播以及宿主内感染的加剧和传播中起着重要作用。细菌生物膜分散的分子机制才刚刚开始被阐明。生物膜分散是一个很有前途的研究领域，可能会开发出抑制生物膜形成或促进生物膜细胞脱落的新型制剂。这些制剂在各种工业和临床环境中预防和治疗生物膜可能是有用的。本综述描述了生物膜分散的研究现状，重点介绍了旨在表征分散机制以及识别调节分散过程的环境线索和细胞内外信号的研究。还将讨论生物膜分散的临床意义和一些最新发现的潜在治疗应用。
