Cieśluk Mateusz, Deptuła Piotr, Piktel Ewelina, Fiedoruk Krzysztof, Suprewicz Łukasz, Paprocka Paulina, Kot Patrycja, Pogoda Katarzyna, Bucki Robert
Department of Medical Microbiology and Nanobiomedical Engineering, Medical University of Bialystok, PL-15222 Bialystok, Poland.
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Medical Science, Collegium Medicum, Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce, PL-25317 Kielce, Poland.
Pathogens. 2020 Nov 20;9(11):969. doi: 10.3390/pathogens9110969.
Despite the hope that was raised with the implementation of antibiotics to the treatment of infections in medical practice, the initial enthusiasm has substantially faded due to increasing drug resistance in pathogenic microorganisms. Therefore, there is a need for novel analytical and diagnostic methods in order to extend our knowledge regarding the mode of action of the conventional and novel antimicrobial agents from a perspective of single microbial cells as well as their communities growing in infected sites, i.e., biofilms. In recent years, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been mostly used to study different aspects of the pathophysiology of noninfectious conditions with attempts to characterize morphological and rheological properties of tissues, individual mammalian cells as well as their organelles and extracellular matrix, and cells' mechanical changes upon exposure to different stimuli. At the same time, an ever-growing number of studies have demonstrated AFM as a valuable approach in studying microorganisms in regard to changes in their morphology and nanomechanical properties, e.g., stiffness in response to antimicrobial treatment or interaction with a substrate as well as the mechanisms behind their virulence. This review summarizes recent developments and the authors' point of view on AFM-based evaluation of microorganisms' response to applied antimicrobial treatment within a group of selected bacteria, fungi, and viruses. The AFM potential in development of modern diagnostic and therapeutic methods for combating of infections caused by drug-resistant bacterial strains is also discussed.
尽管在医学实践中使用抗生素治疗感染带来了希望，但由于致病微生物的耐药性不断增加，最初的热情已大幅消退。因此，需要新的分析和诊断方法，以便从单个微生物细胞及其在感染部位（即生物膜）生长的群落的角度，扩展我们对传统和新型抗菌剂作用方式的认识。近年来，原子力显微镜（AFM）主要用于研究非感染性疾病病理生理学的不同方面，试图表征组织、单个哺乳动物细胞及其细胞器和细胞外基质的形态和流变学特性，以及细胞在暴露于不同刺激时的机械变化。与此同时，越来越多的研究表明，AFM是研究微生物形态和纳米力学特性变化的一种有价值的方法，例如对抗菌治疗的反应或与底物相互作用时的硬度，以及其毒力背后的机制。本综述总结了基于AFM评估一组选定细菌、真菌和病毒对应用抗菌治疗反应的最新进展和作者观点。还讨论了AFM在开发对抗耐药细菌菌株引起的感染的现代诊断和治疗方法方面的潜力。
