title: Microbial biofilm modulation by ultrasound: current concepts and controversies.
abstract: Biofilm elimination is often necessary during antimicrobial therapy or industrial medical manufacturing decontamination. In this context, ultrasound treatment has been frequently described in the literature for its antibiofilm effectiveness, but at the same time, various authors have described ultrasound as a formidable enhancer of bacterial viability. This discrepancy has found no solution in the current literature for around 9 years; some works have shown that every time bacteria are exposed to an ultrasonic field, both destruction and stimulation phenomena co-exist. This co-existence proves to have different final effects based on various factors such as: ultrasound frequency and intensity, the bacterial species involved, the material used for ultrasound diffusion, the presence of cavitation effects and the forms of bacterial planktonic or biofilm. The aim of this work is to analyze current concepts regarding ultrasound effect on prokaryotic cells, and in particular ultrasound activity on bacterial biofilm.
authors.affiliation: Oral Biotechnology Laboratory (OBL), Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy. Electronic address: matteoerr@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Erriu
authors.forename: Cornelio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Blus
authors.forename: Serge
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Szmukler-Moncler
authors.forename: Silvano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Buogo
authors.forename: Raffaello
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Levi
authors.forename: Giulio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Barbato
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Madonnaripa
authors.forename: Gloria
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Denotti
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Piras
authors.forename: Germano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Orrù
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria; D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development*; D006801:Humans; D050296:Microbial Viability; D014464:Ultrasonic Therapy; D014465:Ultrasonics / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Bacteria; Biofilm; Quorum sensing; Ultrasound