Institute of Photonics and Nanotechnology, Faculty of Physics, Vilnius University, Sauletekio av. 3, LT-10257 Vilnius, Lithuania.
Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Institute of Biosciences, Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Sauletekio av. 7, LT-10257 Vilnius, Lithuania.
Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Sep 21;21(18):6932. doi: 10.3390/ijms21186932.
A spacecraft is a confined system that is inhabited by a changing microbial consortium, mostly originating from life-supporting devices, equipment collected in pre-flight conditions, and crewmembers. Continuous monitoring of the spacecraft's bioburden employing culture-based and molecular methods has shown the prevalence of various taxa, with human skin-associated microorganisms making a substantial contribution to the spacecraft microbiome. Microorganisms in spacecraft can prosper not only in planktonic growth mode but can also form more resilient biofilms that pose a higher risk to crewmembers' health and the material integrity of the spacecraft's equipment. Moreover, bacterial biofilms in space conditions are characterized by faster formation and acquisition of resistance to chemical and physical effects than under the same conditions on Earth, making most decontamination methods unsafe. There is currently no reported method available to combat biofilm formation in space effectively and safely. However, antibacterial photodynamic inactivation based on natural photosensitizers, which is reviewed in this work, seems to be a promising method.
航天器是一个密闭系统，其中居住着不断变化的微生物联合体，这些微生物主要来源于生命支持设备、飞行前收集的设备以及宇航员。采用基于培养和分子的方法对航天器的生物负荷进行持续监测表明，存在着各种分类群，其中与人类皮肤相关的微生物对航天器微生物组做出了重大贡献。航天器中的微生物不仅可以在浮游生长模式中繁殖，还可以形成更具弹性的生物膜，这对宇航员的健康和航天器设备的物质完整性构成更高的风险。此外，与在地球上相同的条件相比，空间条件下的细菌生物膜形成更快，并且更容易获得对化学和物理效应的抗性，这使得大多数消毒方法变得不安全。目前还没有报道的方法可以有效地和安全地在太空中对抗生物膜的形成。然而，基于天然光敏剂的抗菌光动力失活似乎是一种很有前途的方法，这在本文中进行了综述。
