Abstract
Bacterial colonization of surfaces and interfaces has a major impact on various areas including biotechnology, medicine, food industries, and water technologies. In most of these areas biofilm development has a strong impact on hygiene situations, product quality, and process efficacies. In consequence, biofilm manipulation and prevention is a fundamental issue to avoid adverse impacts. For such scenario online, non-destructive biofilm monitoring systems become important in many technical and industrial applications. This study reports such a system in form of a microfluidic sensor platform based on the combination of electrical impedance spectroscopy and amperometric current measurement, which allows sensitive online measurement of biofilm formation and activity. A total number of 12 parallel fluidic channels enable real-time online screening of various biofilms formed by different Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia strains and complex mixed population biofilms. Experiments using disinfectant and antibiofilm reagents demonstrate that the biofilm sensor is able to discriminate between inactivation/killing of bacteria and destabilization of biofilm structures. The impedance and amperometric sensor data demonstrated the high dynamics of biofilms as a consequence of distinct responses to chemical treatment strategies. Gene expression of flagellar and fimbrial genes of biofilms grown inside the microfluidic system supported the detected biofilm growth kinetics. Thus, the presented biosensor platform is a qualified tool for assessing biofilm formation in specific environments and for evaluating the effectiveness of antibiofilm treatment strategies.
Highlights
Biofilm formation on technical surfaces is still one of the most challenging problems regarding biofouling in aqueous systems
The environmental isolate P. aeruginosa strain PA 49 was used for biofilm formation characterization over a period of 3 days in Brain Heart Infusion (BHI) 1:4 diluted medium
Intensity per area was plotted against the sampling time and compared with the impedance signal progression (Fig. 3)
Summary
Biofilm formation on technical surfaces is still one of the most challenging problems regarding biofouling in aqueous systems. Technical and industrial applications provide various surfaces as substratum for biofilm adhesion. Biofilms, e.g. in drinking water environments, are known as potential source for the spread of hygienically relevant bacteria [1]. Often, biofouling in industrial processes is detected by product contamination or a decline in process performance. PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0117300 February 23, 2015
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