Extraction and quantification of biofilm bacteria: Method optimized for urinary catheters

• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-26342-3
• Publication Date: 2018-05-17T14:04:42Z
• Authors: Kedar Diwakar Man...; Juwita Norasmara ...; Edmund Chiong; Koon Gee Neoh; Liang Shen; Paul Anantharajah...
• Keywords: pig; 0301 basic medicine; Catheters; Swine; growth; 610; Urinary Catheters; Electron; biofilm; Article; Mice; 03 medical and health sciences; Catheters, Indwelling; Escherichia coli; Animals; Humans; animal; Scanning; human; indwelling catheter; procedures; Escherichia coli infection; mouse; Escherichia coli Infections; catheter infection; Microscopy; urinary catheter; isolation and purification; development and aging; microbiology; bladder catheterization; ultrastructure; 3. Good health; female; classification; Indwelling; Biofilms; Catheter-Related Infections; Urinary Tract Infections; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; Female; urinary tract infection; Urinary Catheterization; scanning electron microscopy

AbstractBacterial biofilms are responsible for the failure of many medical devices such as urinary catheters and are associated with many infectious and non-infectious complications. Preclinical and clinical evaluation of novel catheter coatings to prevent these infections needs to accurately quantify the bacterial load in the biofilm in vitro and ex vivo. There is currently no uniform gold standard for biofilm quantification for different surfaces and established biofilms. We have tried to establish a simple, accurate and reproducible method for extraction and measurement of biofilm bacteria on indwelling catheters, using a combination of vortexing and sonication. We demonstrate the usefulness of this method for catheters of different sizes – 3 Fr to 14 Fr – in vitro, in murine and porcine models, and indwelling in human clinical subjects. We also demonstrate consistent results with complex and polymicrobial biofilms. We believe that this standardized reproducible method will assist the assessment of biofilms in general and urological devices in particular in efforts to harness novel technologies to prevent healthcare associated infections.