Figure 10.

Schematic depiction for the overall steps involved in the design of in vivo protocols of biofilm formation and characterization

Blue heading boxes show the general methodology followed in studies of in vivo biofilm development. The red heading box highlights the methods that can be used to characterize biofilm progression. If prevention of biofilm formation is the goal of the study (green box) or if disease or implanted medical device models are required (yellow box), functionalization/modification of materials and development of the appropriate disease models are respectively needed. After this, the materials under evaluation and the disease models may be combined to generate an appropriate in vivo model for biofilm formation. Evaluation and characterization of the biofilm can be done in situ using advanced in vivo techniques, ex situ through the analysis of swabs and excised tissue samples, and ex vivo (i.e., histological analysis of tissue at end point of study).