Diffusiophoretic Particle Penetration into Bacterial Biofilms.

ABSTRACT: Bacterial biofilms are communities of cells adhered to surfaces. These communities represent a predominant form of bacterial life on Earth. A defining feature of a biofilm is the three-dimensional extracellular polymer matrix that protects resident cells by acting as a mechanical barrier to the penetration of chemicals, such as antimicrobials. Beyond being recalcitrant to antibiotic treatment, biofilms are notoriously difficult to remove from surfaces. A promising, but relatively underexplored, approach to biofilm control is to disrupt the extracellular polymer matrix by enabling penetration of particles to increase the susceptibility of biofilms to antimicrobials. In this work, we investigate externally imposed chemical gradients as a mechanism to transport polystyrene particles into bact

SUBMITTER: Somasundar A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10360038 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature