Fig. 4.

Mechanisms of drug action. Different antibiofilm drugs have different mechanisms of action. For example, ciprofloxacin works by interfering with bacterial DNA replication, while tetracycline, tobramycin and gentamicin interfere with translation, all of which specifically kill cells that are metabolically active at the top of the biofilm. Dfo-gallium is antibacterial by interfering with the iron metabolism of cells, while colistin, EDTA and SDS destroy the structure of the membrane by combining with the lipopolysaccharide terminal lipid outside the bacterial membrane, and these two kinds of drugs kill the cells in the deep biofilm