Modifying their surface, in order to make them unfavourable to microbial colonization, is an interesting and promising option (Tiller et al. 2001).
Surface coatings to protect materials from mechanical abrasion, fire and microbial colonization are associated with billion dollars of expenses across broad range of industrial, domestic and defence applications.
Moreover, microbial colonization is essential for the normal development of the immune system and therefore seems to influence homeostasis between environmental antigen load and immune response.
Since biofilm formation requires an initial stable attachment of a viable microbial population on a surface, a promising approach to limiting microbial colonization is prevention of bacterial adhesion to material substrata prior to colonization.
In addition, microbial colonization is required for secretory IgA (SIgA) production in the intestine.
The study showed that oropharyngeal microbial colonization is not the crucial factor for PEG site infection development but it may be an easy indicator.
Experiments in germ-free animals have shown that microbial colonization is crucial in the instruction, maturation, and regulation of the immune system.
The early development of biofilms on dental implants has not been well characterized but the sequence of microbial colonization is thought to be similar to that for teeth in the same oral cavity [ 4, 5].
Of note, the transcriptional response to microbial colonization is in part species-specific, as, for instance, gene regulation differs between mice and zebrafish that have undergone reciprocal microbiota transplantation [ 26].
