Clinically representative rodent model for biomedical device-associated infection

Bacterial biofilms in the body commonly occur following the implantation of a biomedical device.A mature biofilm results in an extracellular matrix covering the aggregated bacteria and provides protection against antibiotics or the native immune system, rendering diagnosis and treatment difficult.Experiments to eradicate or prevent biofilm formation have been widely performed, with many showing potential for application in vivo.To test the safety and in vivo efficacy of these novel methods, a reliable preclinical animal model is necessary.Here we developed a simple animal model that can be used to recreate medical device-associated infections in vivo.Reproducible Staphylococcus aureus bacterial biofilms were formed on a titanium implant and confirmed by the counting of colony-forming units after sonication and in vivo bioluminescence measurements.We tested our strategy for developing both acute and late-onset infections and confirmed that the model successfully demonstrated bacterial biofilm formation on titanium surfaces, representing acute infection.We believe that this model will be a good option for validating the efficacy and safety of antibacterial strategies for orthopedic surgery.