The Future of 3D Printed Biofilms for In Vitro and In Vivo Wound Infection Models

Chronic wounds are a significant financial burden ($25B) to our health care system.1-3 Chronic hard-to-heal wounds are also a significant burden to the quality of life of the patients. One of the major risk factors associated with lower extremity amputations and patient mortality is infected wounds, that are often stalled in the inflammatory phase of wound healing.

Publications
Published on:
February 2, 2023
Biofilm is an essential component of understanding the mechanism of stalling of wound healing. The Alira Health team describes a novel 3D printed biofilm model that can be utilized in vitro as well as in vivo."

Wound infections are resistant to antibiotics and antimicrobial therapies because the bacteria are deep in the wound bed in a polymicrobial biofilm with a dense layer of polysaccharides, proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids referred to as the exopolymeric substance, or EPS. The biofilm is resistant to mechanical shear, the microbes deep in the biofilm are senescent and are resistant to antibiotics.

In the paper “The Future of 3D Printed Biofilms for In Vitro and In Vivo Wound Infection Models” published in Wound Masterclass journal, our Product Development Laboratory team provides an overview of the future of three-dimensional printed biofilm for in vitro and in vivo wound infection models. Biofilm is an essential component of understanding the mechanism of stalling of wound healing. Biofilm removal remains a contentious area of wound care. Very few antimicrobial rinses and dressings on the market have been developed to target biofilms as there still remains to be an established ‘ideal’ assay to study mature biofilms in a high throughput screen that is reproducible. The Alira Health team describes a novel 3D printed biofilm model that can be utilized in vitro as well as in vivo.

The list of Alira Health’s contributors include:

  • Mitch Sanders, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer
  • Mia Hanna, Research Associate III, Project Manager
  • Vanessa Vu, Research Associate I
  • Lindsay Poland, Scientist III, Lab Operations Mgr.

The paper “The Future of 3D Printed Biofilms for In Vitro and In Vivo Wound Infection Models” is available on page 68 of Volume 1: Issue 3 (December 2022) of Wound Masterclass.

References

1. Sen CK, Roy S, Mathew-Steiner SS, Gordillo GM. Biofilm Management in Wound Care. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2021 Aug 1;148(2):275e-288e. doi: 10.1097/PRS.0000000000008142. PMID: 34398099; PMCID: PMC8439557.

2. Olsson M, Järbrink K, Divakar U, Bajpai R, Upton Z, Schmidtchen A, Car J. The humanistic and economic burden of chronic wounds: A systematic review. Wound Repair Regen. 2019 Jan;27(1):114-125. doi: 10.1111/wrr.12683. Epub 2018 Dec 2. PMID: 30362646.

3. Sen CK. Human Wounds and Its Burden: An Updated Compendium of Estimates. Adv Wound Care (New Rochelle). 2019 Feb 1;8(2):39-48. doi: 10.1089/wound.2019.0946. Epub 2019 Feb 13. PMID: 30809421; PMCID: PMC6389759.

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