A three-phase in-vitro system for studying Pseudomonas aeruginosa adhesion and biofilm formation upon hydrogel contact lenses

BMC Microbiology

Methodology Article

Martin Fraunholz¹  Bernd Giese¹  Nils-Olaf Hübner²  Rutger Matthes²  Axel Kramer²  Claudia Rändler²  Rabea Sietmann³  Thomas Kohlmann⁴  Andrew J McBain⁵ 

[1]Competence Center for Functional Genomics, Ernst Moritz Arndt University Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

[2]Department of Hygiene and Environmental Medicine, Ernst Moritz Arndt University Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

[3]Department of Microbiology, Ernst Moritz Arndt University Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

[4]Institute of Community Medicine, Ernst Moritz Arndt University Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

[5]School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

关键词: Extracellular Polymer Substance;    Contact Lens;    Viable Cell Count;    Contact Lens Material;    Human Blood Serum;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2180-10-282

 received in 2009-10-23, accepted in 2010-11-09,  发布年份 2010

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPseudomonas aeruginosa is commonly associated with contact lens (CL) -related eye infections, for which bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation upon hydrogel CLs is a specific risk factor. Whilst P. aeruginosa has been widely used as a model organism for initial biofilm formation on CLs, in-vitro models that closely reproduce in-vivo conditions have rarely been presented.ResultsIn the current investigation, a novel in-vitro biofilm model for studying the adherence of P. aeruginosa to hydrogel CLs was established. Nutritional and interfacial conditions similar to those in the eye of a CL wearer were created through the involvement of a solid:liquid and a solid:air interface, shear forces and a complex artificial tear fluid. Bioburdens varied depending on the CL material and biofilm maturation occurred after 72 h incubation. Whilst a range of biofilm morphologies were visualised including dispersed and adherent bacterial cells, aggregates and colonies embedded in extracellular polymer substances (EPS), EPS fibres, mushroom-like formations, and crystalline structures, a compact and heterogeneous biofilm morphology predominated on all CL materials.ConclusionsIn order to better understand the process of biofilm formation on CLs and to test the efficacy of CL care solutions, representative in-vitro biofilm models are required. Here, we present a three-phase biofilm model that simulates the environment in the eye of a CL wearer and thus generates biofilms which resemble those commonly observed in-situ.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Rändler et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.