Modelling experimentally measured of ciprofloxacin antibiotic diffusion in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm formed in artificial sputum medium.

Bibliographic Details
Title: Modelling experimentally measured of ciprofloxacin antibiotic diffusion in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm formed in artificial sputum medium.
Authors: Tadeusz Kosztołowicz, Ralf Metzler, Sławomir Wa Sik, Michał Arabski
Source: PLoS ONE, Vol 15, Iss 12, p e0243003 (2020)
Publisher Information: Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2020.
Publication Year: 2020
Collection: LCC:Medicine
LCC:Science
Subject Terms: Medicine, Science
More Details: We study the experimentally measured ciprofloxacin antibiotic diffusion through a gel-like artificial sputum medium (ASM) mimicking physiological conditions typical for a cystic fibrosis layer, in which regions occupied by Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria are present. To quantify the antibiotic diffusion dynamics we employ a phenomenological model using a subdiffusion-absorption equation with a fractional time derivative. This effective equation describes molecular diffusion in a medium structured akin Thompson's plumpudding model; here the 'pudding' background represents the ASM and the 'plums' represent the bacterial biofilm. The pudding is a subdiffusion barrier for antibiotic molecules that can affect bacteria found in plums. For the experimental study we use an interferometric method to determine the time evolution of the amount of antibiotic that has diffused through the biofilm. The theoretical model shows that this function is qualitatively different depending on whether or not absorption of the antibiotic in the biofilm occurs. We show that the process can be divided into three successive stages: (1) only antibiotic subdiffusion with constant biofilm parameters, (2) subdiffusion and absorption of antibiotic molecules with variable biofilm transport parameters, (3) subdiffusion and absorption in the medium but the biofilm parameters are constant again. Stage 2 is interpreted as the appearance of an intensive defence build-up of bacteria against the action of the antibiotic, and in the stage 3 it is likely that the bacteria have been inactivated. Times at which stages change are determined from the experimentally obtained temporal evolution of the amount of antibiotic that has diffused through the ASM with bacteria. Our analysis shows good agreement between experimental and theoretical results and is consistent with the biologically expected biofilm response. We show that an experimental method to study the temporal evolution of the amount of a substance that has diffused through a biofilm is useful in studying the processes occurring in a biofilm. We also show that the complicated biological process of antibiotic diffusion in a biofilm can be described by a fractional subdiffusion-absorption equation with subdiffusion and absorption parameters that change over time.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 1932-6203
Relation: https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0243003
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/cca65bd6a229483f84719ef30c353206
Accession Number: edsdoj.65bd6a229483f84719ef30c353206
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
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More Details
ISSN:19326203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0243003
Published in:PLoS ONE
Language:English