Gristina A G, Hobgood C D, Webb L X, Myrvik Q N
Section of Orthopedic Surgery, Wake Forest University Medical Center, Winston-Salem, NC 27103.
Biomaterials. 1987 Nov;8(6):423-6. doi: 10.1016/0142-9612(87)90077-9.
This study addresses the problem of antibiotic resistance in adhesive, biomaterial-centred infections. It is suggested that this anionic, extracapsular, polysaccharide slime produced by bacteria protects them from antibiotics and sequesters critical ions from the surface of biomaterials. Biofilm-enclosed bacteria on the surface of stainless steel substrata in a test chamber were challenged with incremental levels of tobramycin. In this setting, the minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal level of tobramycin for Staphylococcus epidermis were well above normal.
