An extracorporeal model of biofilm-adherent bacterial microcolony colonization for the study of peritonitis in continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis

We have developed an extracorporeal system for investigating in vitro the biofilm-adherent bacterial microcolonies (BABM) that grow on Tenckhoff catheters (TC), to study peritonitis in patients undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). A modified Robbins' device, attached to sampling plugs with TC discs and connected to the dialysate via a peristaltic pump, is run for 24 h; scrapings from pairs of TC discs are processed for assessment of viable BABM, one of each pair for culture by routine microbiology techniques and the other for examination by scanning and transmission electron microscopy (EM). No colonization was noted with fresh dialysis solutions and spent dialysates from patients without clinical peritonits; but, when bacterial suspensions were added to aliquots of the same dialysates, BABM were noted on both culture and EM. In a study of 4 patients on CAPD treatment, who had clinically evident peritonitis, routine cultures of spent dialysate were positive in only 2, but BABM were found in cultures and EM preparations of disc scrapings in all 4 cases. We conclude from these preliminary findings that this extracorporeal system is reliable, and well suited for studying the role of BABM in CAPD-associated peritonitis in vitro.