School of Materials Science & Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 639798, Singapore.
School of Chemistry and Biomolecules Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 637551, Singapore.
Int J Biol Sci. 2021 Apr 23;17(7):1769-1781. doi: 10.7150/ijbs.59025. eCollection 2021.
The formation of biofilms on medical-context surfaces gives the EPS embedded bacterial community protection and additional advantages that planktonic cells would not have such as increased antibiotic resistance and horizontal gene transfer. Bacterial cells tend to attach to a conditioning layer after overcoming possible electrical barriers and go through two phases of attachments: reversible and irreversible. In the first, bacterial attachment to the surface is reversible and occurs quickly whilst the latter is permanent and takes place over a longer period of time. Upon reaching a certain density in the bacterial community, quorum sensing causes phenotypical changes leading to a loss in motility and the production of EPS. This position paper seeks to address the problem of bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation for the medical surfaces by comparing inhabiting physicochemical interactions and biological mechanisms. Several physiochemical methodologies (e.g. ultrasonication, alternating magnetic field and chemical surface coating) and utilizing biological mechanisms (e.g. quorum quenching and EPS degrading enzymes) were suggested. The possible strategical applications of each category were suggested and evaluated to a balanced position to possibly eliminate the adhesion and formation of biofilms on medical-context surfaces.
生物膜在医学相关表面的形成赋予了 EPS 嵌入细菌群落保护和额外的优势，例如增加抗生素耐药性和水平基因转移，而浮游细胞则没有这些优势。细菌细胞在克服可能的电障碍后，往往会附着在一个调节层上，并经历两个附着阶段：可逆和不可逆。在第一个阶段，细菌对表面的附着是可逆的，并且发生得很快，而后者是永久性的，需要更长的时间。当细菌群落达到一定密度时，群体感应会导致表型变化，导致运动性丧失和 EPS 的产生。本立场文件旨在通过比较栖息的物理化学相互作用和生物机制来解决医学表面细菌黏附和生物膜形成的问题。提出了几种物理化学方法（例如超声处理、交变磁场和化学表面涂层）和利用生物机制（例如群体感应淬灭和 EPS 降解酶）。针对每一类可能的战略应用，都提出并评估了一个平衡的立场，以可能消除医学相关表面上的生物膜的黏附和形成。
