The role of flow in bacterial biofilm morphology and wetting properties

Federica Recupido; Giuseppe Toscano; Rosarita Tatè; Maria Petala; Sergio Caserta; Thodoris D Karapantsios; Stefano Guido

doi:10.1016/j.colsurfb.2020.111047

The role of flow in bacterial biofilm morphology and wetting properties

Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces. 2020 Apr 18:192:111047. doi: 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2020.111047. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Federica Recupido¹, Giuseppe Toscano², Rosarita Tatè³, Maria Petala⁴, Sergio Caserta⁵, Thodoris D Karapantsios⁶, Stefano Guido⁷

Affiliations

¹ Division of Chemical Technology, School of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University Box 116, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece; Department of Chemical, Materials and Industrial Production Engineering (DICMaPI), University of Naples, Federico II, Piazzale V. Tecchio 80, 80125, Naples, Italy.
² Department of Chemical, Materials and Industrial Production Engineering (DICMaPI), University of Naples, Federico II, Piazzale V. Tecchio 80, 80125, Naples, Italy.
³ Institute of Genetics and Biophysics: "A. Buzzati-Traverso" (IGB-CNR), Pietro Castellino 111, 80131, Naples, Italy.
⁴ Department of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece.
⁵ Department of Chemical, Materials and Industrial Production Engineering (DICMaPI), University of Naples, Federico II, Piazzale V. Tecchio 80, 80125, Naples, Italy; CEINGE, Advanced Biotechnologies, 80145, Naples, Italy. Electronic address: sergio.caserta@unina.it.
⁶ Division of Chemical Technology, School of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University Box 116, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece. Electronic address: karapant@chem.auth.gr.
⁷ Department of Chemical, Materials and Industrial Production Engineering (DICMaPI), University of Naples, Federico II, Piazzale V. Tecchio 80, 80125, Naples, Italy; CEINGE, Advanced Biotechnologies, 80145, Naples, Italy.

PMID: 32388030
DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2020.111047

Abstract

Biofilms are bacterial communities embedded in an extracellular matrix, able to adhere to surfaces. Different experimental set-ups are widely used for in vitro biofilm cultivation; however, a well-defined comparison among different culture conditions, especially suited to interfacial characterization, is still lacking in the literature. The main objective of this work is to study the role of flow on biofilm formation, morphology and interfacial properties. Three different in vitro setups, corresponding to stagnant, shaking, and laminar flow conditions (custom-made flow cell), are used in this work to grow single strain biofilms of Pseudomonas fluorescens AR 11 on glass coupons. Results show that flow conditions significantly influenced biofilm formation kinetics, affecting mass transfer and cell attachment/detachment processes. Distinct morphological patterns are found under different flow regimes. Static contact angle data do not depend significantly on biofilm growth conditions in the parametric range investigated in this work.

Keywords: Biofilm; Confocal laser scanning microscopy; Flow-induced-morphology; Image analysis; Transport phenomena; Wetting.