Burn wounds can create significant damage to human skin, compromising one of the key barriers to infection. The leading cause of death among burn wound patients is infection. Even in the patients that survive, infections can be notoriously difficult to treat and can cause lasting damage, with delayed healing and prolonged hospital stays. Biofilm formation in the burn wound site is a major contributing factor to the failure of burn treatment regimens and mortality as a result of burn wound infection. Bacteria forming a biofilm or a bacterial community encased in a polysaccharide matrix are more resistant to disinfection, the rigors of the host immune system, and critically, more tolerant to antibiotics. Burn wound-associated biofilms are also thought to act as a launchpad for bacteria to establish deeper, systemic infection and ultimately bacteremia and sepsis. In this review, we discuss some of the leading burn wound pathogens and outline how they regulate biofilm formation in the burn wound microenvironment. We also discuss the new and emerging models that are available to study burn wound biofilm formation in vivo.

烧伤会对人体皮肤造成严重伤害，破坏感染的主要屏障之一。烧伤患者死亡的主要原因是感染。即使在幸存的患者中，感染也可能非常难以治疗，并可能造成持久的损害，延迟愈合和延长住院时间。烧伤部位的生物膜形成是导致烧伤治疗方案失败和烧伤感染导致死亡的主要因素。形成生物膜的细菌或包裹在多糖基质中的细菌群落更能抵抗消毒、宿主免疫系统的严酷考验，而且至关重要的是，它们对抗生素的耐受性更高。与烧伤相关的生物膜也被认为是细菌在更深、全身感染最终导致菌血症和败血症。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了一些主要的烧伤病原体，并概述了它们如何调节烧伤微环境中生物膜的形成。我们还讨论了可用于研究体内烧伤创面生物膜形成的新兴模型。