Department of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
Department of Surgery, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
Sci Rep. 2018 May 23;8(1):8069. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-26342-3.
Bacterial biofilms are responsible for the failure of many medical devices such as urinary catheters and are associated with many infectious and non-infectious complications. Preclinical and clinical evaluation of novel catheter coatings to prevent these infections needs to accurately quantify the bacterial load in the biofilm in vitro and ex vivo. There is currently no uniform gold standard for biofilm quantification for different surfaces and established biofilms. We have tried to establish a simple, accurate and reproducible method for extraction and measurement of biofilm bacteria on indwelling catheters, using a combination of vortexing and sonication. We demonstrate the usefulness of this method for catheters of different sizes - 3 Fr to 14 Fr - in vitro, in murine and porcine models, and indwelling in human clinical subjects. We also demonstrate consistent results with complex and polymicrobial biofilms. We believe that this standardized reproducible method will assist the assessment of biofilms in general and urological devices in particular in efforts to harness novel technologies to prevent healthcare associated infections.
细菌生物膜是许多医疗器械（如导尿管）失效的原因，并与许多感染和非感染性并发症有关。为了预防这些感染，需要对新型导管涂层进行临床前和临床评估，以准确地体外和离体定量生物膜中的细菌负荷。目前，对于不同表面和已建立的生物膜，没有统一的生物膜定量金标准。我们试图建立一种简单、准确和可重复的方法，用于提取和测量留置导管上的生物膜细菌，使用涡旋和超声的组合。我们在体外、在小鼠和猪模型以及在人体临床受试者中证明了这种方法对不同尺寸的导管（3 Fr 至 14 Fr）的有效性。我们还证明了这种方法与复杂和多微生物生物膜的一致结果。我们相信，这种标准化、可重复的方法将有助于评估生物膜，特别是在泌尿外科器械方面，以利用新技术来预防与医疗保健相关的感染。
