Using biofilms as initial inocula in animal models of biofilm-related infections

One of the most practical strategies that has been undertaken to fight biofilm implant-related infections has been the development of coatings on biomaterial devices that can elute antimicrobials into regions of patients' tissues. To date, the majority of animal studies that have been developed to model infections that accompany the use of these materials have primarily involved an initial inoculum of planktonic bacterial cells from batch cultures. Although valuable, data that have been derived from these experiments may not provide important clinical insight into how bacteria in well-established, mature biofilms impact device-related and other clinical infections when they contaminate a patient site or implanted device. In this review, a discussion is presented on the impact that a shift in biofilm research may have if initial inocula of well-established, mature biofilms are used to model biomaterial device-related infections in animal models.