Increased antibiotic resistance of Escherichia coli in mature biofilms.

ABSTRACT: Biofilms are considered to be highly resistant to antimicrobial agents. Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain this high resistance of biofilms, including restricted penetration of antimicrobial agents into biofilms, slow growth owing to nutrient limitation, expression of genes involved in the general stress response, and emergence of a biofilm-specific phenotype. However, since combinations of these factors are involved in most biofilm studies, it is still difficult to fully understand the mechanisms of biofilm resistance to antibiotics. In this study, the antibiotic susceptibility of Escherichia coli cells in biofilms was investigated with exclusion of the effects of the restricted penetration of antimicrobial agents into biofilms and the slow growth owing to nutrient limitatio

SUBMITTER: Ito A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2698376 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature