Microorganisms (Apr 2023)

Easy, Flexible and Standardizable Anti-Nascent Biofilm Activity Assay to Assess Implant Materials

  • Jérome Vanheuverzwijn,
  • Eloise-Eliane Maillard,
  • Amal Mahat,
  • Lee Fowler,
  • Daniel Monteyne,
  • Leïla Bonnaud,
  • Nicolas Landercy,
  • Axel Hemberg,
  • Ana Janković,
  • Franck Meyer,
  • Vesna Mišković-Stanković,
  • Milena Stevanović,
  • Codruta Mirica,
  • David Pérez-Morga,
  • Reto Luginbuehl,
  • Christèle Combes,
  • Gabriel Furtos,
  • Véronique Fontaine

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11041023
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 4
p. 1023

Abstract

Read online

Medical implants have improved the quality of life of many patients. However, surgical intervention may eventually lead to implant microbial contamination. The aims of this research were to develop an easy, robust, quantitative assay to assess surface antimicrobial activities, especially the anti-nascent biofilm activity, and to identify control surfaces, allowing for international comparisons. Using new antimicrobial assays to assess the inhibition of nascent biofilm during persistent contact or after transient contact with bacteria, we show that the 5 cent Euro coin or other metal-based antibacterial coins can be used as positive controls, as more than 4 log reduction on bacterial survival was observed when using either S. aureus or P. aeruginosa as targets. The methods and controls described here could be useful to develop an easy, flexible and standardizable assay to assess relevant antimicrobial activities of new implant materials developed by industries and academics.

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