A systematic review of the use of bacteriophages for in vitro biofilm control

AbstractBacteriophages (phages) are very promising biological agents for the prevention and control of bacterial biofilms. However, little is known about the parameters that can influence the efficacy of phages on biofilms. This systematic review provides a summary and analysis of the published data about the use of phages to control pre-formed biofilmsin vitro, suggesting recommendations for future experiments in this area. A total of 68 articles, containing data on 605 experiments addressing the efficacy of phages to control biofilmsin vitro were included, after a search conducted in Web of Science, Embase, and Medline (PubMed). The data collected from each experiment included information about biofilm growth conditions, phage characteristics, treatment conditions and biofilm reduction. In most cases, biofilms were formed in the surface of microtiter plates (82.5%); the median time for biofilm formation was 24  h, as is the median treatment duration. Quantification of biofilm biomass (52.6%), viable cells (25.5%) and metabolic activity (17.9%) were the most common biofilm assessment methods. Correlation analysis revealed that some phage parameters can influence the treatment outcome: higher phage concent rations were strongly associated with improved biofilm control, leading to higher levels of biofilm reduction, and phages with higher burst sizes and shorter latent periods seem to be the best candidates to control biofilmsin vitro. However, the great variability of the me...
Source: European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases - Category: Microbiology Source Type: research