Replacing a Century Old Technique - Modern Spectroscopy Can Supplant Gram Staining

Shirly Berezin; Yaron Aviv; Hagit Aviv; Elad Goldberg; Yaakov R Tischler

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-02212-2

Replacing a Century Old Technique - Modern Spectroscopy Can Supplant Gram Staining

Sci Rep. 2017 Jun 19;7(1):3810. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-02212-2.

Authors

Shirly Berezin^{1

2}, Yaron Aviv³, Hagit Aviv^{1

4}, Elad Goldberg³, Yaakov R Tischler^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Bar-Ilan Institute for Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
² Department of Physics, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
³ Rabin Medical Center, Beilinson Campus, Department of Internal Medicine, Ramat Gan, Israel.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
⁵ Bar-Ilan Institute for Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel. yrt@biu.ac.il.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel. yrt@biu.ac.il.

Abstract

Rapid and accurate Gram differentiation is paramount as the first step of pathogen identification and antibiotics administration. However, the current method requires additional reagents, is time-consuming, and is operator dependent. Here we show the principle of tip enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) can differentiate between Gram negative and positive species, by detecting the changes in tip-enhancement in the Raman scattering from the bacteria's lipid-bilayer membrane, which specifically enhances Gram negative bacteria.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cell Membrane / chemistry*
Gentian Violet / chemistry*
Gram-Negative Bacteria*
Gram-Positive Bacteria*
Phenazines / chemistry*
Spectrum Analysis, Raman / methods*

Substances

Gram's stain
Phenazines
Gentian Violet