Abstract
Bacterial biofilms are defined as complex aggregates of bacteria that grow attached to surfaces or are associated with interfaces. Bacteria within biofilms are embedded in a self-produced extracellular matrix made of polysaccharides, nucleic acids, and proteins. It is recognized that bacterial biofilms are responsible for the majority of microbial infections that occur in the human body, and that biofilm-related infections are extremely difficult to treat. This is related with the fact that microbial cells in biofilms exhibit increased resistance levels to antibiotics in comparison with planktonic (free-floating) cells. In the last years, the introduction into the market of novel compounds that can overcome the resistance to antimicrobial agents associated with biofilm infection has slowed down. If this situation is not altered, millions of lives are at risk, and this will also strongly affect the world economy. As such, research into the identification and eradication of biofilms is important for the future of human health. In this sense, this article provides an overview of techniques developed to detect and imaging biofilms as well as recent strategies that can be applied to treat biofilms during the several biofilm formation steps.
Highlights
Antimicrobial resistance is the inevitable consequence of prescribing antibiotics, and bacteria will continue to develop resistance to therapies
In the light of this dark scenery, this review focuses on recent antibacterial and antibiofilm strategies and the state of the art of imaging techniques that are being used to study this bacterial lifestyle with the hope that the current situation can be altered in a near and brighter future
The isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ)-based quantitative proteomics technique can be very useful for biofilm detection and to find possible targets that could lead to biofilm eradication, as it allows for the understanding of which proteins and metabolic pathways are important for biofilm formation
Summary
Antimicrobial resistance is the inevitable consequence of prescribing antibiotics, and bacteria will continue to develop resistance to therapies. A 2014 report commissioned by the U.K. government predicted that millions of people are expected to die prematurely because of drug resistance over the 35 years worldwide and the world’s gross domestic product (GDP) will be 2 to 3.5% lower than it otherwise would be in 2050 [2] This problem is even more relevant when is associated with bacterial biofilms, since bacteria growing in biofilms show significantly reduced antibiotic susceptibility. Bacterial biofilms consist of densely packed communities that grow attached to surfaces and are responsible for the majority of human clinical infections [5,6] Their resistance to conventional antibiotics is 10- to 1000-fold higher than that of planktonic bacteria [7]. In the light of this dark scenery, this review focuses on recent antibacterial and antibiofilm strategies and the state of the art of imaging techniques that are being used to study this bacterial lifestyle with the hope that the current situation can be altered in a near and brighter future
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