基于微流控的生物被膜研究进展及口腔微生态系统应用展望

Microfluidics in biofilm and oral microecosystem

摘要:

口腔是人体最重要的微生物储藏库之一，这些微生物通常以生物被膜的形式稳定地黏附于口腔内粘膜及牙齿表面，在病理条件下则可以深入髓腔及牙槽骨内，成为龋病、根尖周炎、牙周病等常见口腔疾病的主要病因，甚至与许多全身性疾病密切相关。在人类口腔微生态系统中，微生物种类繁多，生物被膜的构成及相互作用关系复杂，目前对其认识还十分有限；此外，在宿主免疫、口腔内外多种理化因素的调控下，生物被膜还可以出现不同的表型及生物特性，因此对其致病机制的研究也具有挑战性。微流控技术作为一种能够灵活操控微尺度流体的技术，不仅能够精准模拟理化微环境，还能够进行高通量可视化的分析，在生命分析化学及生物被膜的研究方面已经展现出显著优势，在口腔微生态系统研究中具有广阔的应用前景。本文将回顾近期微流控技术在生物被膜方面的研究进展，并结合口腔微生态系统中生物被膜研究的关键问题对微流控技术的应用做系统阐述和展望。

Abstract:

Oral cavity harbors human oral microecosystem, one of the largest microbial reservoirs in the human body. The oral microorganisms usually stably adhere to the surfaces of oral mucosa and teeth in the form of biofilm, and the composition and interaction of biofilms are complicated. Under pathological conditions, microbes can penetrate the pulp cavity and alveolar bone to cause common oral infectious diseases such as dental caries, periapical periodontitis, periodontitis. The infection caused by oral biofilms is even closely related to many systemic diseases. Currently, it is still challenging to study the pathogenic mechanism of the oral biofilm. Moreover, under the influence of the host immunity and various physical and chemical factors inside or outside the oral cavity, the phenotypes and biological characteristics of biofilms remain unclear due to lag of technological advances to mimic and study biofilms in vitro. Microfluidics is a multi-disciplinary field that involves flexible control of micro-scale fluids. It can not only accurately simulate the physical and chemical microenvironment but also be used to conduct real-time observation, high-throughput testing, and single-cell analysis. In this article, we will review the recent research progress of microfluidic technologies in biofilm study, and elaborate on the application prospects of microfluidics for the study of microbial biofilms in the oral microecosystem.