An In Vitro Model of the Human Colon: Studies of Intestinal Biofilms and Clostridium difficile Infection.

The in vitro gut model is an invaluable research tool to study indigenous gut microbiota communities, the behavior of pathogenic organisms, and the therapeutic and adverse effect of antimicrobial administration on these communities. The model has been validated against the intestinal contents of sudden death victims to reflect the physicochemical and microbiological conditions of the proximal to distal colon, and has been extensively used to investigate the interplay between gut microbiota populations, antibiotic exposure, and Clostridium difficile infection. More recently the gut model has been adapted to additionally model intestinal biofilm. Here we describe the structure, assembly, and application of the biofilm gut model.