TY - JOUR
T1 - The in vivo biofilm
AU - Bjarnsholt, Thomas
AU - Alhede, Maria
AU - Alhede, Morten
AU - Eickhardt-Sørensen, Steffen R
AU - Moser, Claus
AU - Kühl, Michael
AU - Jensen, Peter Østrup
AU - Høiby, Niels
N1 - Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Bacteria can grow and proliferate either as single, independent cells or organized in aggregates commonly referred to as biofilms. When bacteria succeed in forming a biofilm within the human host, the infection often becomes very resistant to treatment and can develop into a chronic state. Biofilms have been studied for decades using various in vitro models, but it remains debatable whether such in vitro biofilms actually resemble in vivo biofilms in chronic infections. In vivo biofilms share several structural characteristics that differ from most in vitro biofilms. Additionally, the in vivo experimental time span and presence of host defenses differ from chronic infections and the chemical microenvironment of both in vivo and in vitro biofilms is seldom taken into account. In this review, we discuss why the current in vitro models of biofilms might be limited for describing infectious biofilms, and we suggest new strategies for improving this discrepancy.
AB - Bacteria can grow and proliferate either as single, independent cells or organized in aggregates commonly referred to as biofilms. When bacteria succeed in forming a biofilm within the human host, the infection often becomes very resistant to treatment and can develop into a chronic state. Biofilms have been studied for decades using various in vitro models, but it remains debatable whether such in vitro biofilms actually resemble in vivo biofilms in chronic infections. In vivo biofilms share several structural characteristics that differ from most in vitro biofilms. Additionally, the in vivo experimental time span and presence of host defenses differ from chronic infections and the chemical microenvironment of both in vivo and in vitro biofilms is seldom taken into account. In this review, we discuss why the current in vitro models of biofilms might be limited for describing infectious biofilms, and we suggest new strategies for improving this discrepancy.
U2 - 10.1016/j.tim.2013.06.002
DO - 10.1016/j.tim.2013.06.002
M3 - Review
C2 - 23827084
VL - 21
SP - 466
EP - 474
JO - Trends in Microbiology
JF - Trends in Microbiology
SN - 0966-842X
IS - 9
ER -