Prevention and treatment of biofilms by hybrid- and nanotechnologies

Ramanathan K Kasimanickam,¹ Ashish Ranjan,² GV Asokan,³ Vanmathy R Kasimanickam,¹ John P Kastelic<sup>4

1</sup>Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA; ²Department of Physiological Sciences, Center for Veterinary Health Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA; ³College of Health Sciences, University of Bahrain, Salmaniya Medical Complex, Manama, Bahrain; ⁴Department of Production Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

All authors contributed equally to this work

Abstract: Bacteria growing as adherent biofilms are difficult to treat and frequently develop resistance to antimicrobial agents. To counter biofilms, various approaches, including prevention of bacterial surface adherence, application of device applicators, and assimilation of antimicrobials in targeted drug delivery machinery, have been utilized. These methods are also combined to achieve synergistic bacterial killing. This review discusses various multimodal technologies, presents general concepts, and describes therapies relying on the principles of electrical energy, ultrasound, photodynamics, and targeted drug delivery for prevention and treatment of biofilms.

Keywords: biofilm, antimicrobial, drug carrier, hybrid technology, nanotechnology