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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, June 1999, p. 1771-1776, Vol. 37, No. 6
Biofilm Research
Group,1 Biological
Sciences,2 and Microbiology & Infectious
Diseases,3 University of Calgary, Calgary,
Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4
Received 25 August 1998/Returned for modification 21 December
1998/Accepted 8 March 1999
Determination of the MIC, based on the activities of antibiotics
against planktonic bacteria, is the standard assay for antibiotic susceptibility testing. Adherent bacterial populations (biofilms) present with an innate lack of antibiotic susceptibility not seen in
the same bacteria grown as planktonic populations. The Calgary Biofilm
Device (CBD) is described as a new technology for the rapid and
reproducible assay of biofilm susceptibilities to antibiotics. The CBD
produces 96 equivalent biofilms for the assay of antibiotic susceptibilities by the standard 96-well technology. Biofilm
formation was followed by quantitative microbiology and scanning
electron microscopy. Susceptibility to a standard group of antibiotics was determined for National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) reference strains: Escherichia coli ATCC
25922, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, and
Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213. Growth curves
demonstrated that biofilms of a predetermined size could
be formed on the CBD at specific time points and, furthermore, that no
significant difference (P > 0.1) was seen
between biofilms formed on each of the 96 pegs. The antibiotic
susceptibilities for planktonic populations obtained by the
NCCLS method or from the CBD were similar. Minimal biofilm
eradication concentrations, derived by using the CBD,
demonstrated that for biofilms of the same organisms, 100 to 1,000 times the concentration of a certain antibiotic were often required for
the antibiotic to be effective, while other antibiotics were found to
be effective at the MICs. The CBD offers a new technology for the
rational selection of antibiotics effective against microbial
biofilms and for the screening of new effective antibiotic compounds.
0095-1137/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
The Calgary Biofilm Device: New Technology for Rapid
Determination of Antibiotic Susceptibilities of Bacterial
Biofilms
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Biological
Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. NW, Calgary, AB
T2N 1N4, Canada. Phone: (403) 220-6960. Fax: (403) 289-9311. E-mail: ceri{at}acs.ucalgary.ca.
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