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Biofilm formation and antibiotic susceptibility of Staphylococcus and Bacillus species isolated from human allogeneic skin

  • Clinical Microbiology - Research Paper
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Abstract

Human skin banks around the world face a serious problem with the high number of allogeneic skins that are discarded and cannot be used for grafting due to persistent bacterial contamination even after antibiotic treatment. The biofilm formation capacity of these microorganisms may contribute to the antibiotic tolerance; however, this is not yet widely discussed in the literature. Thisstudy analyzed bacterial strains isolated from allogeneic human skin samples,which were obtained from a hospital skin bank that had already been discardeddue to microbial contamination. Biofilm formation and susceptibility topenicillin, tetracycline, and gentamicin were evaluated by crystal violetbiomass quantification and determination of the minimum inhibitoryconcentration (MIC), minimum biofilm inhibitory concentration (MBIC), andminimum biofilm eradication concentration (MBEC) by the broth microdilutionmethod with resazurin dye. A total of 216 bacterial strains were evaluated, and204 (94.45%) of them were classified as biofilm formers with varying degrees ofadhesion. MBICs were at least 512 times higher than MICs, and MBECs were atleast 512 times higher than MBICs. Thus, the presence of biofilm in allogeneicskin likely contributes to the inefficiency of the applied treatments as antibiotictolerance is known to be much higher when bacteria are in the biofilmconformation. Thus, antibiotic treatment protocols in skin banks shouldconsider biofilm formation and should include compounds with antibiofilmaction.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Aline Francielle Damo Souza and Luana Pretto from the skin bank of Dr. Roberto Corrêa Chem from the Hospital Complex Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Porto Alegre for preparing the skin allografts samples for this study.

Funding

This study was financed in part by the Coordination of Superior Level Staff Improvement–Brazil (CAPES).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, Institute of Basic Health Sciences, Universidade Federal Do Rio Grande Do Sul, Sarmento Leite 500, Porto Alegre, 90050-170, Brazil

    Micaela do Canto Canabarro, Karine Lena Meneghetti, Mercedes Passos Geimba & Gertrudes Corção

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  1. Micaela do Canto Canabarro
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  2. Karine Lena Meneghetti
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  3. Mercedes Passos Geimba
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  4. Gertrudes Corção
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Contributions

Conceptualization and design: Karine Lena Meneghetti, Mercedes Passos Geimba, Gertrudes Corção. Methodology: Micaela do Canto Canabarro, Karine Lena Meneghetti. Formal analysis and investigation: Micaela do Canto Canabarro, Karine Lena Meneghetti. Writing—original draft preparation: Micaela do Canto Canabarro. Writing—review and editing: Karine Lena Meneghetti, Mercedes Passos Geimba, Gertrudes Corção. Supervision: Mercedes Passos Geimba, Gertrudes Corção. Funding acquisition: Gertrudes Corção. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Gertrudes Corção.

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Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committees of Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (protocol CAAE 36949514.8.0000.5347) and of Irmandade da Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Porto Alegre (protocol CAAE 45100215.1.0000.5335).

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All authors agree to publish this study and to publish its results.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Responsible Editor: Jorge Luiz Mello Sampaio

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do Canto Canabarro, M., Meneghetti, K.L., Geimba, M.P. et al. Biofilm formation and antibiotic susceptibility of Staphylococcus and Bacillus species isolated from human allogeneic skin. Braz J Microbiol 53, 153–160 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42770-021-00642-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42770-021-00642-9

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