A dispersal recolonisation 3D biofilm in vitro model based on co-assembled peptide amphiphiles and clinical wound fluid

TL;DR

This study presents a novel 3D in vitro biofilm model using co-assembled peptide amphiphiles and wound fluid, accurately mimicking chronic wound biofilm dynamics for better infection research and drug testing.

Contribution

The paper introduces a new in vitro biofilm model that reproduces the complete biofilm life cycle, including dispersal and recolonisation, using co-assembled peptide amphiphiles with clinical wound fluid.

Findings

Successfully mimicked chronic wound microenvironment

Supported stable 3D biofilm formation and dispersal

Biofilm antibiotic responses matched in vivo rat models

Abstract

Chronic wound infections are sustained by dynamic 3D biofilm cycles involving maturation, dispersal, and recolonisation, yet existing in vitro models fail to reproduce these temporal and structural complexities. Here, we report a strategy that co-assembles a designed protease-inhibitory peptide amphiphile (PA-GF) with patient-derived wound fluid (WF) to reconstruct the complete biofilm life cycle in vitro. The PA-GF sequence incorporates an HWGF motif capable of binding and inhibiting matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), thereby preserving the integrity of recolonised biofilms under proteolytic stress. Co-assembling with WF generated a living material that faithfully mimicked the biochemical and mechanical microenvironment of chronic wounds, supporting the formation of stable 3D biofilms capable of dispersal and recolonisation. Furthermore, we established a controllable polymicrobial infection model and validated its translational relevance through antibiotic susceptibility profiling and spatial microbiological analyses. Notably, the antibiotic response patterns of the PA/WF-derived biofilms closely mirrored those observed in a rat wound infection in vivo model. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that co-assembling living materials can recapitulate the nutritional composition, 3D architecture, and recolonisation dynamics of in vivo infectious biofilms, offering a physiologically relevant and customisable platform for investigating chronic wound infections and accelerating anti-biofilm drug discovery.