Biofilm in Implant Infections: Its Production and Regulation

A significant proportion of medical implants become the focus of a device-related infection, difficult to eradicate because bacteria that cause these infections live in well-developed biofilms.

Biofilm is a microbial derived sessile community characterized by cells that are irreversibly attached to a substratum or interface to each other, embedded in a matrix of extracellular polymeric substances that they have produced.

Bacterial adherence and biofilm production proceed in two steps: first, an attachment to a surface and, second, a cell-to-cell adhesion, with pluristratification of bacteria onto the artificial surface. The first step requires the mediation of bacterial surface proteins, the cardinal of which is similar to S. aureus autolysin and is denominated AtlE.

In staphylococci the matrix of extracellular polymeric substances of biofilm is a polymer of β-1,6-linked N-acetylglucosamine (PIA), whose synthesis is mediated by the ica operon. Biofilm formation is partially controlled by quorum sensing, an interbacterial communication mechanism dependent on population density.

The principal implants that can be compromised by biofilm associated infections are: central venous catheters, heart valves, ventricular assist devices, coronary stents, neurosurgical ventricular shunts, implantable neurological stimulators, arthro-prostheses, fracture-fixation devices, inflatable penile implants, breast implants, cochlear implants, intra-ocular lenses, dental implants.

Biofilms play an important role in the spread of antibiotic resistance. Within the high dense bacterial population, efficient horizontal transfer of resistance and virulence genes takes place.

In the future, treatments that inhibit the transcription of biofilm controlling genes might be a successful strategy in inhibiting these infections.