The effects of a hydroconductive dressing on wound biofilm

摘要

Bacteria possess the ability to cause infection in two very distinct ways. 1 The first way is when an individual bacterium with its unique genome uses one portion of its genes to stay a free-floating, motile cell (planktonic phenotype) that has a strategy in a host environment to breach and kill cells with its virulence factors to create a source of nutrition. The second way is that the very same bacterium can up-regulate a separate group of genes, which lets it attach to a host structure. Once attached to the host, the bacterium secretes a polysaccharide matrix around itself and its progeny. When this small group reaches a sufficient number (quorum), signalling molecules (quorum-sensing molecules) direct the gene expression of each bacterium throughout the colony. This lets a community of bacteria develop within the protection of the matrix, which gives colony defences against host immunity, including antibodies and white blood cells. 2 Given that a biofilm requires attachment, it cannot use the host tissue to which it is adhered for a nutritional source and, therefore, successful biofilm uses local inflammation to produce plasma exudate on which it can nourish itself. 3