Nature Communications (Oct 2018)

Laser-induced vapour nanobubbles improve drug diffusion and efficiency in bacterial biofilms

  • Eline Teirlinck,
  • Ranhua Xiong,
  • Toon Brans,
  • Katrien Forier,
  • Juan Fraire,
  • Heleen Van Acker,
  • Nele Matthijs,
  • Riet De Rycke,
  • Stefaan C. De Smedt,
  • Tom Coenye,
  • Kevin Braeckmans

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06884-w
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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Eradication of bacterial infections can be hindered by poor penetration of antibiotics through biofilms. Here, Teirlinck et al. show that laser-induced vapour nanobubbles formed around plasmonic nanoparticles can be used to locally disturb biofilm integrity and improve antibiotic diffusion.