Osteomyelitis and the role of biofilms in chronic infection

• Published in: FEMS immunology and medical microbiology Vol. 52; no. 1; pp. 13 - 22
• Main Authors: Brady, Rebecca A, Leid, Jeff G, Calhoun, Jason H, Costerton, J. William, Shirtliff, Mark E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Oxford, UK : Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2008; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; Blackwell; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Animals; Bacteria; Bacteriology; biofilm; Biofilms; Biofilms - growth & development; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical materials; Chronic infection; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Microbiology; Miscellaneous; Molecular interactions; Osteomyelitis; Osteomyelitis - microbiology; Phenotypes; Public health; Staphylococcal Infections - microbiology; Staphylococcus aureus; Staphylococcus aureus - physiology; osteomyelitis; biofilm; Chronic; Osteitis; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Biofilm; Bacteria; Micrococcales; Micrococcaceae; Staphylococcus aureus
• ISSN: 0928-8244; 1574-695X; 2049-632X
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1574-695X.2007.00357.x

Understanding the mechanisms implicated in the initial attachment, development, and maturation of a biofilm phenotype are of tremendous importance for their effect on the medical, industrial, and public health arenas. This review explores the current understanding of the nature of biofilms and the impact that molecular interactions between the bacteria themselves, as well as between bacteria and the host, may have on biofilm development and phenotype using the nonmotile Gram-positive coccus, Staphylococcus aureus, as an example.