Biofilm Streamers Clog Medical Devices

Biofilm Streamers Clog Medical Devices

Bacterial communities called biofilms can quickly clog medical devices such as stents, catheters and water filters by forming 3-dimensional streamers that block flow. The finding will inform future approaches to prevent biofilms from causing potentially deadly clogs.

Bacteria flowing through a tube form a green biofilm on the walls. Bacteria tagged red that flow through the chamber afterward get caught in a sticky matrix, forming streamers that clog the channel. Image source: Knut Drescher.

Biofilms are complex, multi-layered communities of bacteria and other microbes. They can form on biological surfaces like teeth or on medical devices, such as catheters and stents, within the body. Bacteria in biofilms are resistant to antibiotics and can cause serious infections.

A research team led by Drs. Howard A. Stone and Bonnie L. Bassler of Princeton University set out to better understand the characteristics of biofilms. P. that forms biofilms in soil, rivers and sewage, as well as on medical devices. Rather than use standard Petri dishes or flasks for the research, the group developed a special flow system that mimicked real-life conditions. They labeled bacteria with a green tag and observed them under a microscope as they flowed through a narrow tube with many bends. The work was funded in part by NIH’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS).


 Get The Latest By Email

Weekly Magazine Daily Inspiration

that the bacteria rapidly grew and accumulated, forming a biofilm on the walls of the tube within about 40 hours. The buildup of this biofilm, however, didn’t greatly affect flow through the tube.

The bacteria in biofilms are connected to each other by a matrix of compounds they produce called extracellular polymeric substances. The researchers found that the bacteria on the tube walls shed this molecular matrix, creating a mesh netting in the tube.

The researchers labeled another group of bacteria with a red tag and monitored them as they flowed through the same tube. These bacteria got trapped in the mesh netting and formed 3-D streamers. The streamers bridged the spaces between the bends in the tube, clogging the tube in as little as 30 minutes.

The researchers found that the bacteria could form streamers in artificial soil and in mesh similar to that found in water filters. Biofilm streamers also formed on bare-metal stents within 12 hours, spanning the gaps in the wire mesh. These results suggest that biofilm streamers are common in nature and can block flow in a wide variety of industrial and medical settings.

For me the sur­prise was how quickly the biofilm stream­ers caused com­plete clog­ging,” Stone says. re was no warn­ing that some­thing bad was about to happen.

The researchers also tested several genes that were tied to biofilm formation in past studies. When deleted, only a subset of the genes affected biofilm formation under flow conditions. These results underscore the importance of using real-life conditions to test methods for preventing and treating biofilms. Article Source: NIH Research Matters

More By This Author

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES

English Afrikaans Arabic Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Danish Dutch Filipino Finnish French German Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Indonesian Italian Japanese Korean Malay Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Spanish Swahili Swedish Thai Turkish Ukrainian Urdu Vietnamese

follow InnerSelf on

facebook icontwitter iconyoutube iconinstagram iconpintrest iconrss icon

 Get The Latest By Email

Weekly Magazine Daily Inspiration

Monday, 24 July 2023 19:42

Today, mountains of calorie-rich (and often nutritionally poor) food and lakes of sugary beverages are readily available in much of the world. It’s no longer necessary to leave home — or even stand...

Wednesday, 26 May 2021 08:54

The term “exercise is medicine” is rightfully well publicised. It’s one of the best ways to stay healthy, yet medicine doesn’t work if you aren’t prepared to take it.

Saturday, 01 May 2021 08:12

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts have become popular in recent years for a number of reasons. They don’t require as much time as a regular workout (some can take as little as 10...

Wednesday, 26 July 2023 17:18

Do you know why junk food is so addictive? Are you craving sweets yet? If you've ever wondered why junk food can be so addictive, you're not alone.

Thursday, 15 April 2021 07:13

As a species, humans are wired to collaborate. That’s why lockdowns and remote work have felt difficult for many of us during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Monday, 07 June 2021 08:07

Injury to the adult brain is all too common. A brain injury will often show up on brain scans as a well-defined area of damage. But often the changes to the brain extend far beyond the visible...

New Attitudes - New Possibilities

InnerSelf.comClimateImpactNews.com | InnerPower.net
MightyNatural.com | WholisticPolitics.com | InnerSelf Market
Copyright ©1985 - 2021 InnerSelf Publications. All Rights Reserved.