Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA.
Sci Rep. 2021 Mar 4;11(1):5176. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-84543-9.
Studying the impact of antibiotic treatment on otitis media (OM), the leading cause of primary care office visits during childhood, is critical to develop appropriate treatment strategies. Tracking dynamic middle ear conditions during antibiotic treatment is not readily applicable in patients, due to the limited diagnostic techniques available to detect the smaller amount and variation of middle ear effusion (MEE) and middle ear bacterial biofilm, responsible for chronic and recurrent OM. To overcome these challenges, a handheld optical coherence tomography (OCT) system has been developed to monitor in vivo response of biofilms and MEEs in the OM-induced chinchilla model, the standard model for human OM. As a result, the formation of MEE as well as biofilm adherent to the tympanic membrane (TM) was longitudinally assessed as OM developed. Various types of MEEs and biofilms in the chinchilla model were identified, which showed comparable features as those in humans. Furthermore, the effect of antibiotics on the biofilm as well as the amount and type of MEEs was investigated with low-dose and high-dose treatment (ceftriaxone). The capability of OCT to non-invasively track and examine middle ear conditions is highly beneficial for therapeutic OM studies and will lead to improved management of OM in patients.
研究抗生素治疗对中耳炎（OM）的影响至关重要，中耳炎是儿童在初级保健门诊就诊的主要原因，这对于制定适当的治疗策略至关重要。由于目前可用的诊断技术有限，无法检测到中耳积液（MEE）和中耳细菌生物膜的较小量和变化，而这些正是导致慢性和复发性 OM 的原因，因此无法在患者中实时跟踪抗生素治疗期间中耳的动态状况。为了克服这些挑战，已经开发了一种手持式光学相干断层扫描（OCT）系统，以监测 OM 诱导的南美栗鼠模型（人类 OM 的标准模型）中生物膜和 MEE 的体内反应。结果，随着 OM 的发展，纵向评估了 MEE 的形成以及附着在鼓膜（TM）上的生物膜。在南美栗鼠模型中鉴定出了各种类型的 MEE 和生物膜，它们表现出与人类相似的特征。此外，还研究了低剂量和高剂量治疗（头孢曲松）对生物膜以及 MEE 的数量和类型的影响。OCT 具有非侵入性跟踪和检查中耳状况的能力，非常有益于 OM 的治疗研究，并将导致患者 OM 管理的改善。
