Evaluation of biofilm formation, cell surface hydrophobicity and gelatinase activity in Acinetobacter baumannii strains isolated from patients of diabetic and non-diabetic foot ulcer infections

Abstract Diabetic foot ulcer infections (DFIs) are one of the most complicated diseases worldwide. DFIs are a significant public health concern and may lead to high rates of amputations. The complications of DFIs depend on clinical characteristics of the patients, drug susceptibility and virulence factors of bacteria. Acinetobacter baumannii is one of the virulent pathogens which causes DFIs. The present study was conducted to compare the virulence factors of A. baumannii strains isolated from diabetic and non-diabetic foot ulcer infections (non-DFIs). The virulence factors such as cell surface hydrophobicity (CSH), gelatinase activity and biofilm formation were tested. Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) was adopted to monitor the biofilm architecture. Out of 480 cases tested, 70 patients were infected with A. baumannii . Biofilm formation was detected in 31.43% of the isolates. We found a significant difference in the biofilm formation and CSH in isolates from the patients with DFIs and non-DFIs ( P A. baumannii induced DFIs, suggesting that these bacteria could be a potential biomarker for the frequent and endangering infections in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.