The utilisation of poloxamer as a model to study the complexicity of biofilms and antimicrobial efficacy in biomaterials

摘要

The use of poloxamer hydrogels to model biofilms was found to be a rapid and simple method to study biofilm development and architecture in relation to biomaterials and medical devices. Poloxamer recreates an environment, which mimics biofilm conditions. This investigation gathered qualitative and quantitative data to demonstrate the differences of microcolony formation and proliferation rates in 2 different bacteria, which are commonly isolated from skin, acute, and chronic, non-healing wounds. Future studies will look to examine the effects of various existing and novel antimicrobial and antibiofilm treatments that could be used to treat biomaterial related infections.