БАКТЕРИАЛЬНЫЕ БИОПЛЕНКИ И ИНФЕКЦИИ

It is now a common perception that the vast majority of bacterial life in nature is found in surface-bound communities called biofilms rather than in isolated planktonic cells. Biofilms are implicated in more than 80% of chronic inflammatory and infectious diseases. The biofilm model allows the reconceptualization of multiple chronic diseases as biofilm diseases. The biofilm bacterial community uses secreted pheromones (eg, quorum sensing molecules) and other molecules for cell-cell signaling, even between species. These coordinated activities during formation of biofilms render the bacterial community numerous benefits. Biofilms confer resistance to many antimicrobials, and protection against host defenses. One possible reason for the increased resistance to environmental stresses and antibacterials observed in biofilm cells appears to be the increase in the portion of persister cells within the biofilm.