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NDT Advance Access originally published online on April 20, 2006
Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation 2006 21(8):2247-2255; doi:10.1093/ndt/gfl170
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© The Author [2006]. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of ERA-EDTA. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Original Articles: Dialysis and Transplantation

Catheter lock solutions influence staphylococcal biofilm formation on abiotic surfaces

Robert M. Q. Shanks1, Jennifer L. Sargent1, Raquel M. Martinez1, Martha L. Graber2 and George A. O'Toole1

1 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH 03755 and 2 Department of Medicine, Section of Hypertension and Nephrology, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH 03766, USA

Correspondence and offprint requests to: George A. O'Toole. Email: georgeo{at}dartmouth.edu

Background. Microbial biofilms form on central venous catheters and may be associated with systemic infections as well as decreased dialysis efficiency due to catheter thrombosis. The most widely used anticoagulant catheter lock solution in the US is sodium heparin. We have previously shown that sodium heparin in clinically relevant concentrations enhances Staphylococcus aureus biofilm formation. In the present study, we examine the effect of several alternative catheter lock solutions on in vitro biofilm formation by laboratory and clinical isolates of S. aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS).

Methods. Lepirudin, low molecular weight heparin, tissue plasminogen activator, sodium citrate, sodium citrate with gentamicin and sodium ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA) were assessed for their effect on biofilm formation on polystyrene, polyurethane and silicon elastomer.

Results. Sodium citrate at concentrations above 0.5% efficiently inhibits biofilm formation and cell growth of S. aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis. Subinhibitory concentrations of sodium citrate significantly stimulate biofilm formation in most tested S. aureus strains, but not in CNS strains. Sodium EDTA was effective in prevention of biofilm formation as was a combination of sodium citrate and gentamicin. Low molecular weight heparin stimulated biofilm formation of S. aureus, while lepirudin and tissue plasminogen activator had little effect on S. aureus biofilm formation.

Conclusions. This in vitro study demonstrates that heparin alternatives, sodium citrate and sodium EDTA, can prevent the formation of S. aureus biofilms, suggesting that they may reduce the risk of biofilm-associated complications in indwelling catheters. This finding suggests a biological mechanism for the observed improvement in catheter-related outcomes in recent clinical comparisons of heparin and trisodium citrate as catheter locking solutions. A novel and potential clinically relevant finding of the present study is the observation that citrate at low levels strongly stimulates biofilm formation by S. aureus.

Keywords: adherence; anticoagulant; bacteria; biofilm; catheter lock


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