Alternative Approaches to Combat Medicinally Important Biofilm-Forming Pathogens

Abstract

Bacteria have developed the capability to produce structured communities (or cluster of cells) via adherence to surface to form biofilms that facilitate or prolong their survival under extreme environmental condition. Bacterial biomass adheres to inanimate and biotic surfaces in the hospital setting as well as in the environment. In the healthcare system, the biofilm formation on medical devices allows bacteria to sustain as a reservoir and becomes more resistant to antimicrobial agents. However, biofilm formation facilitates pathogens to sabotage the host defenses that are linked to long-term retention within the host cell. Therefore, in this review, we provide some steps leading to the formation of biofilm within the host and on inanimate surfaces, also emphasizing various medically significant pathogens and debate current developments on novel approaches that aimed to prevent biofilm formations and its dispersion to patients.

An Overview of Antimicrobial Properties of Carbon Nanotubes-Based Nanocomposites

“…26,135 In addition, more promising approaches have been applied to control the biofilm formation, such as reducing initial cellular adhesion via the physical methods which are unlikely causing bacterial resistance. 29,136 Thus, PDMS can be widely used in the membrane biofilm reactors for the treatment of wastewater due to its great cell adhesion properties, and to develop valuable compounds. [137][138][139][140][141] Recently, the authors have successfully incorporated multi-walled carbon nanotubes into the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) in order to control the adhesion of bacteria (E. coli).…”

Superhydrophobic Nanocoatings as Intervention against Biofilm-Associated Bacterial Infections

“…Such surface attachment of microbials can either be reversible or irreversible, which is often dependent on the surrounding biological environment. The adhered microbial cells then proceed to penetrate host tissue for deriving nutrients and to prepare themselves for cellular division, forming a bacterial biofilm [ 14 , 16 ]. In the following sections, we discuss the basic structure and composition of a bacterial biofilm and provide a general overview on the steps and mechanisms leading to biofilm formation.…”