Surface acoustic waves increase the susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms to antibiotic treatment

Moran Kopel, Elena Degtyar, Ehud Banin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

40 Scopus citations

Abstract

Bacterial urinary tract infections resulting from prolonged patient catheterization have become a major health problem. One of the major issues is bacterial resistance to antibiotic treatments due to biofilm formation inside the catheters, thus enhancing the search for alternative treatments. In the present study, a device containing a piezo element capable of transmitting low-frequency surface acoustic waves (SAW) onto the indwelling catheter was used. The SAW were able to eradicate biofilm-residing bacteria by 485% when applied simultaneously with an antibiotic in three clinically relevant species, viz. Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Moreover, transcriptome analysis revealed that SAW can alter the transcription pattern of P. aeruginosa, suggesting that this signal can be specifically sensed by the bacterium.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)701-711
Number of pages11
JournalBiofouling
Volume27
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2011

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by a Nofar grant to EB from the Israel Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor. The authors thank H. Jacob, I. Zumeris, H. Raskin, and J. Zumeris for helpful discussion and technical assistance.

Funding

This work was supported by a Nofar grant to EB from the Israel Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor. The authors thank H. Jacob, I. Zumeris, H. Raskin, and J. Zumeris for helpful discussion and technical assistance.

FundersFunder number
Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor

    Keywords

    • Antibiotics
    • Biofilm
    • Surface acoustic waves
    • Transcriptome analysis

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