Human Skin In Vitro Colonization Model for a Skin Wound Infected by Staphylococcus aureus Biofilm

Biofilms provide an environment in which bacteria can survive adverse conditions such as nutrient or oxygen deficiencies, and antibiotic treatments. Bacterial survival of antibiotic treatments can often result in antimicrobial resistance, which can make treating infections substantially more difficult, increase the burden of healthcare costs, and hinder the healing of infected wounds. As Staphylococcus aureus is a bacterium that commonly causes skin infections, can be found in infected skin wounds, and is prone to developing antimicrobial resistance-especially within a biofilm microenvironment, the study and development of methodologies to treat infected wounds have become an important topic of research. To study the development of bacterial biofilm in a skin wound, this chapter discusses an in vitro model to access biofilm growth in an environment that mimics a human skin wound. This model serves as a tool to study the biofilm growth and efficacy of antibiotic use in an in vitro system that more closely resembles human skin tissue, rather than a polystyrene plate.