Pseudomonas aeruginosa outcompetes other bacteria in the manifestation and maintenance of a biofilm in polyvinylchloride tubing as used in dental devices

Archives of Microbiology, Mar 2016

In a PVC tube as a model system for dental devices, Pseudomonas aeruginosa outcompetes Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae for the biofilm formation. P. aeruginosa has advantage over the other strains due to higher tolerance for low-nutrient situations or direct killing by the production of soluble factors like pyocyanin.

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Pseudomonas aeruginosa outcompetes other bacteria in the manifestation and maintenance of a biofilm in polyvinylchloride tubing as used in dental devices

Arch Microbiol Pseudomonas aeruginosa outcompetes other bacteria in the manifestation and maintenance of a biofilm in polyvinylchloride tubing as used in dental devices Christoph Gert Ammann 0 1 Markus Nagl 0 1 Michael Nogler 0 1 Débora Cristina Coraça‑Huber 0 1 0 Division of Hygiene and Medical Microbiology, Department of Hygiene, Microbiology and Social Medicine, Medical University of Innsbruck , Schöpfstrasse. 41, 6020 Innsbruck , Austria 1 Experimental Orthopaedics, Medical University of Innsbruck , Innrain 36 - 1. Floor, 6020 Innsbruck , Austria 2 Débora Cristina Coraça-Huber In a PVC tube as a model system for dental devices, Pseudomonas aeruginosa outcompetes Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae for the biofilm formation. P. aeruginosa has advantage over the other strains due to higher tolerance for low-nutrient situations or direct killing by the production of soluble factors like pyocyanin. Communicated by Erko Stackebrandt. Bacterial biofilm; PVC tubing; Dental device; Co-culture - Findings Polyvinylchloride (PVC) tubes are widely used in medical and dental devices. These tubes can easily come in contact with human skin and mucosa during odontology procedures and can be contaminated with the following bacteria that play a role in human medicine. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative rod-shaped bacterium found in moist to wet habitats. These include human mucosal surfaces, e.g., the nasopharynx (Fothergill et al. 2014) , and surfaces in tap water lines (Rozej et al. 2015) . Klebsiella pneumoniae is a Gram-negative rod-shaped bacterium that can colonize mouth mucosal tissue (Bagley 1985) and cause pneumonia (Podschun and Ullmann 1998) . Staphylococcus aureus is a Gram-positive bacterium that typically colonizes skin. Approximately 20 % of all human beings are long-term carriers of S. aureus in nose mucosa (Kluytmans et al. 1997) . Once in contact with the moist surface of a tube lumen, bacteria can adhere to the material and start biofilm formation. Biofilms are formed in several stages during propagation of bacteria after adherence (Stoodley et al. 2002) . Once a sufficient number of bacteria are reached, the biofilm matures, ultimately establishing an extracellular matrix (ECM). The ECM contains water, polyglycans, proteins, and nucleotides (Branda et al. 2005) . Bacteria in the biofilm use these stored materials in times of malnutrition from the exterior. We here investigate the growth of three bacterial strains which are typical components of human flora. These can transfer from human to a dental device and subsequently grow in the lumen of the PVC tubing. We sought to determine the growth pattern and dynamics of S. aureus and K. pneumoniae in co-culture with P. aeruginosa, a well-known contaminant of water systems. Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, S. aureus ATCC 25923, and K. pneumoniae (clinical isolate) single colonies from Mueller–Hinton (MH) agar were grown separately overnight at 37 °C in MH broth to 2–5 × 109 colony-forming units (cfu)/mL. Subsequently, P. aeruginosa was mixed with S. aureus or K. pneumoniae and diluted in MH broth to approximately 1 × 105 cfu/ml for each strain. One tube system each was filled with P. aeruginosa plus S. aureus or P. aeruginosa plus K. pneumoniae. We here sought to speed up the process of initial biofilm formation by providing ample nutrients (MH broth) for 72 h. After this period, we provided tap water for the system and followed the bacterial count of the formed biofilms for 5–8 weeks. To imitate a dental device system, we cultivated the biofilm at room temperature and provided flow of water by a peristaltic pump. We used scanning electron microscopy to visualize the biofilms on the tube lumen and collect data on their spatial distribution at the end of the incubation period. After fixation and dehydration, samples were investigated in a scanning electron microscope (Jeol 6010, Eching, Germany) at 5 kV acceleration voltage using a spot size of 40 or 50, respectively. We used the REF detector setting in which data are collected through the secondary electron detector without using the suction current to attract secondary electrons. We found that biofilms are clustered in small groups of high bacterial counts instead of forming a single low-density biofilm spread over the entire tube lumen (Fig. 1a, b). Similar results have been observed with confocal microscopy using ground water and no specific bacterial input (Martiny et al. 2003) . The single biofilms showed a thick ECM spreading over the biofilm core, while single bacteria could still be visualized at the edges of the individual biofilms. A representative image is shown in Fig. 1b. At weekly intervals, a sample of the PVC tube was cut and stained with 0.5 % crystal violet for 5 min for macroscopic evaluation of the biofilm growth. We observed a gradual covering of the lumen along the time beginning with isolated clumps. Additionally, we weekly cut a 10-c (...truncated)


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Christoph Gert Ammann, Markus Nagl, Michael Nogler, Débora Cristina Coraça-Huber. Pseudomonas aeruginosa outcompetes other bacteria in the manifestation and maintenance of a biofilm in polyvinylchloride tubing as used in dental devices, Archives of Microbiology, 2016, pp. 389-391, Volume 198, Issue 4, DOI: 10.1007/s00203-016-1208-6