Читать книгу Oral Biofilms - Группа авторов - Страница 63

While various studies have described biofilm formation in static systems, bacteria in the oral cavity are subject to constantly changing environmental conditions (e.g., salivary flow). Static biofilm models are not able to simulate these conditions, and specific research questions require dynamic models. The use of the described biofilm models allows a multitude of questions to be addressed that cannot be studied with planktonic monocultures. The Zurich in vitro biofilm models are reproducible and reliable. They may be used for the study of basic queries, but also for application-oriented questions that could not be addressed using culture techniques.

Our data indicate that, compared to responses triggered by planktonic individual species, the bacteria organized in an in vitro subgingival biofilm express even more damaging virulence factors neutralizing the proinflammatory defense of host cells. As neither the culture of host defense cells nor the assembly of artificial biofilms is restricted to oral tissues and bacteria, the same strategy of challenging cultured host cells with in vitro-propagated bacterial biofilms may be of general interest and could be applied to study other elusive chronic inflammatory diseases.