SEM Analysis of Surface Impact on Biofilm Antibiotic Treatment

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2017

Authors

Luciana Calheiros Gomes (Author) FEUP; Filipe José Mergulhão (Author) FEUP

Journal

Title: Scanning

Vol. 2017

Pages: 1-7

ISSN: 0161-0457

Publisher: Hindawi

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 4 Citations

Scopus - 27 Citations

INSPEC

Associated Projects

LEPABE - Laboratório de Engenharia de Processos, Ambiente, Biotecnologia e Energia

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00M-C6V

DOI: 10.1155/2017/2960194

Abstract (EN): The aim of this work was to use scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to investigate the effect of ampicillin treatment on Escherichia coli biofilms formed on two surface materials with different properties, silicone (SIL) and glass (GLA). Epifluorescence microscopy (EM) was initially used to assess biofilm formation and killing efficiency on both surfaces. This technique showed that higher bacterial colonization was obtained in the hydrophobic SIL than in the hydrophilic GLA. It has also shown that higher biofilm inactivation was attained for GLA after the antibiotic treatment (7-log reduction versus 1-log reduction for SIL). Due to its high resolution and magnification, SEM enabled a more detailed analysis of the antibiotic effect on biofilm cells, complementing the killing efficiency information obtained by EM. SEM micrographs revealed that ampicillin-treated cells have an elongated form when compared to untreated cells. Additionally, it has shown that different materials induced different levels of elongation on cells exposed to antibiotic. Biofilms formed on GLA showed a 37% higher elongation than those formed on SIL. Importantly, cell elongation was related to viability since ampicillin had a higher bactericidal effect on GLA-formed biofilms. These findings raise the possibility of using SEM for understanding the efficacy of antimicrobial treatments by observation of biofilm morphology.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 7