Nanomaterials for Treating Bacterial Biofilms on Implantable Medical Devices

Abstract

Bacterial biofilms are involved in most device-associated infections and remain a challenge for modern medicine. One major approach to addressing this problem is to prevent the formation of biofilms using novel antimicrobial materials, device surface modification or local drug delivery; however, successful preventive measures are still extremely limited. The other approach is concerned with treating biofilms that have already formed on the devices; this approach is the focus of our manuscript. Treating biofilms associated with medical devices has unique challenges due to the biofilm’s extracellular polymer substance (EPS) and the biofilm bacteria’s resistance to most conventional antimicrobial agents. The treatment is further complicated by the fact that the treatment must be suitable for applying on devices surrounded by host tissue in many cases. Nanomaterials have been extensively investigated for preventing biofilm formation on medical devices, yet their applications in treating bacterial biofilm remains to be further investigated due to the fact that treating the biofilm bacteria and destroying the EPS are much more challenging than preventing adhesion of planktonic bacteria or inhibiting their surface colonization. In this highly focused review, we examined only studies that demonstrated successful EPS destruction and biofilm bacteria killing and provided in-depth description of the nanomaterials and the biofilm eradication efficacy, followed by discussion of key issues in this topic and suggestion for future development.

Microbiologically-Synthesized Nanoparticles and Their Role in Silencing the Biofilm Signaling Cascade

“…Key factors responsible for using nanomaterials for biofilm treatment are their low cytotoxicity and novel mechanisms of action. Nanoparticles' toxicity strongly depends on their physicochemical properties such as shape, size, surface chemistry, structure, agglomeration state, and cell types in contact with the nano materials (Tran et al, 2020). The few disadvantages involving microbial nanoparticle synthesis are the tedious purification steps and poor understanding of the mechanisms.…”

Design of functionalised circular tandem repeat proteins with longer repeat topologies and enhanced subunit contact surfaces

“…In this study, we examine the possibility of functionalizing such designed protein scaffolds for the disruption of biological particles and assemblages, specifically examining how the trimeric assemblage of a previously described camelid nanobody that was selected to bind a viral spike protein receptor-binding domain might improve on such a construct’s viral neutralization properties, relative to a commonly used dimerization motif 23 . It should be possible to expand on this concept for other purposes, such as the degradation of bacterial biofilms (themselves a high copy-number, high avidity target) 28 or other bioremediation applications. An additional area for investigation might be the use of such self-assembling protein scaffolds for the organization of enzyme domains within a defined pathway, potentially leading to kinetic gains through proximity effects between sequential activities 29 , 30 .…”

Staphylococcal Biofilms: Challenges and Novel Therapeutic Perspectives

“…Furthermore, nanotechnology avoids problems such as enzymatic degradation, toxicity and unspecific delivery [ 273 ]. Although there are diverse benefits deriving from the use of nanoparticles, there is still a lack of studies regarding their interaction and toxicity in the human body, and long-term effects such as accumulation in tissues and organs [ 275 ]. Furthermore, as with traditional antibiotics, development of resistance is possible.…”