Bacterial Density and Biofilm Structure Determined by Optical Coherence Tomography

Sci Rep. 2019 Jul 5;9(1):9794. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-46196-7.

Abstract

Optical-coherence-tomography (OCT) is a non-destructive tool for biofilm imaging, not requiring staining, and used to measure biofilm thickness and putative comparison of biofilm structure based on signal intensity distributions in OCT-images. Quantitative comparison of biofilm signal intensities in OCT-images, is difficult due to the auto-scaling applied in OCT-instruments to ensure optimal quality of individual images. Here, we developed a method to eliminate the influence of auto-scaling in order to allow quantitative comparison of biofilm densities in different images. Auto- and re-scaled signal intensities could be qualitatively interpreted in line with biofilm characteristics for single and multi-species biofilms of different strains and species (cocci and rod-shaped organisms), demonstrating qualitative validity of auto- and re-scaling analyses. However, specific features of pseudomonas and oral multi-species biofilms were more prominently expressed after re-scaling. Quantitative validation was obtained by relating average auto- and re-scaled signal intensities across biofilm images with volumetric-bacterial-densities in biofilms, independently obtained using enumeration of bacterial numbers per unit biofilm volume. The signal intensities in auto-scaled biofilm images did not significantly relate with volumetric-bacterial-densities, whereas re-scaled intensities in images of biofilms of widely different strains and species increased linearly with independently determined volumetric-bacterial-densities in the biofilms. Herewith, the proposed re-scaling of signal intensity distributions in OCT-images significantly enhances the possibilities of biofilm imaging using OCT.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Bacteria / growth & development*
  • Biofilms* / growth & development
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Tomography, Optical Coherence*