149
for Economic Co-operation and Development) report (http://www.oecd.org/health/
stemming-the-superbug-tide-9789264307599-en.htm) estimates that 2.4 million
people will die from the infection of antimicrobial resistant microorganisms in
Europe, North America and Australia over the next 30 years and could cost up to
US$ 3.5 billion annually. This condition is already drastic in many low and middle
income countries, which are expected to rise significantly (Hofer 2019).
In a natural environment, bacteria exist predominantly in multicellular communities called biofilms that are attached to the surface and encased in matrix as
opposed to isolated planktonic cells studied in laboratory (Singh et al. 2018). This
form of lifestyle is consequential for bacterial physiology and survival as it involves
significant change in genetic information and associated cellular energy. Within biofilms, cells can evade immune system and antibiotic therapy and thereby convoluting the treatment of chronic infectious diseases. Several species of pathogenic
microorganisms such as Staphylococcus epidermidis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis,
Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Candida albicans, Pseudomonas aeruginosa etc. are
known to cause biofilm associated diseases and pose serious health concerns due to
their recalcitrant nature towards antimicrobial drugs (Kumar et al. 2017). The biofilm characteristics allows microbes to survive adverse environmental situations.
Even the high minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of many new generation
antibiotics are unable to eliminate entire biofilm because of the concentration variation of antibiotics throughout a biofilm, may help microbial cells to develop resistance (Algburi et al. 2017; Roy et al. 2018).
Biofilm knowledge has advanced tremendously in last decade and has provided
molecular details of biofilm formation and its dispersion, using different bacterial
models. Irrespective of the species, biofilm development is greatly affected by the
environment and nutrition availability. Regulatory processes and signals important
for biofilm development are often conserved among related bacteria. Antibiotics are
frequently used to control the growth of pathogenic microorganisms in the treatment of bacterial infections and biofilm growth prevention. But, the extensive and
unnecessary use of antibiotics accelerates microorganisms to develop resistance.
Consequently, we are now encountering an alarming increase in multi resistant bacteria (Rasmussen and Givskov 2006). Therefore, the potential alternatives of antibiotics must be identified otherwise pre-antibiotic era may return.
Several approaches have been developed to control and remove biofilms from
biotic as well as abiotic surfaces. Some mechanical means are used based on avoidance of attachment of the bacteria to the surfaces and disruption the biofilm formation. Physical control methods such as, super high magnetic fields, ultrasound
treatment and high pulsed electrical fields has also been used especially in medical
devices. Besides, chemical approaches have also been used to control biofilm for
example, sodium citrate, N-alkylpyridinium bromide and N-acetylcysteine inhibited biofilm formation by staphylococci, E. coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa species (Satpathy et al. 2016). Besides these approaches, nowadays novel and effective
strategies such as inhibition of cell-cell communication, bacteriophages mediated
killing, enzymes mediated approach, nanomedicine approach and phytocompounds
based inhibition has been developed to prevent and disrupt biofilm.
7 Control of Bacterial Biofilms for Mitigating Antimicrobial Resistance
for Economic Co-operation and Development) report (http://www.oecd.org/health/
stemming-the-superbug-tide-9789264307599-en.htm) estimates that 2.4 million
people will die from the infection of antimicrobial resistant microorganisms in
Europe, North America and Australia over the next 30 years and could cost up to
US$ 3.5 billion annually. This condition is already drastic in many low and middle
income countries, which are expected to rise significantly (Hofer 2019).
In a natural environment, bacteria exist predominantly in multicellular communities called biofilms that are attached to the surface and encased in matrix as
opposed to isolated planktonic cells studied in laboratory (Singh et al. 2018). This
form of lifestyle is consequential for bacterial physiology and survival as it involves
significant change in genetic information and associated cellular energy. Within biofilms, cells can evade immune system and antibiotic therapy and thereby convoluting the treatment of chronic infectious diseases. Several species of pathogenic
microorganisms such as Staphylococcus epidermidis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis,
Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Candida albicans, Pseudomonas aeruginosa etc. are
known to cause biofilm associated diseases and pose serious health concerns due to
their recalcitrant nature towards antimicrobial drugs (Kumar et al. 2017). The biofilm characteristics allows microbes to survive adverse environmental situations.
Even the high minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of many new generation
antibiotics are unable to eliminate entire biofilm because of the concentration variation of antibiotics throughout a biofilm, may help microbial cells to develop resistance (Algburi et al. 2017; Roy et al. 2018).
Biofilm knowledge has advanced tremendously in last decade and has provided
molecular details of biofilm formation and its dispersion, using different bacterial
models. Irrespective of the species, biofilm development is greatly affected by the
environment and nutrition availability. Regulatory processes and signals important
for biofilm development are often conserved among related bacteria. Antibiotics are
frequently used to control the growth of pathogenic microorganisms in the treatment of bacterial infections and biofilm growth prevention. But, the extensive and
unnecessary use of antibiotics accelerates microorganisms to develop resistance.
Consequently, we are now encountering an alarming increase in multi resistant bacteria (Rasmussen and Givskov 2006). Therefore, the potential alternatives of antibiotics must be identified otherwise pre-antibiotic era may return.
Several approaches have been developed to control and remove biofilms from
biotic as well as abiotic surfaces. Some mechanical means are used based on avoidance of attachment of the bacteria to the surfaces and disruption the biofilm formation. Physical control methods such as, super high magnetic fields, ultrasound
treatment and high pulsed electrical fields has also been used especially in medical
devices. Besides, chemical approaches have also been used to control biofilm for
example, sodium citrate, N-alkylpyridinium bromide and N-acetylcysteine inhibited biofilm formation by staphylococci, E. coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa species (Satpathy et al. 2016). Besides these approaches, nowadays novel and effective
strategies such as inhibition of cell-cell communication, bacteriophages mediated
killing, enzymes mediated approach, nanomedicine approach and phytocompounds
based inhibition has been developed to prevent and disrupt biofilm.
7 Control of Bacterial Biofilms for Mitigating Antimicrobial Resistance