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Quantitative analyses of Streptococcus mutans biofilms with quartz crystal microbalance, microjet impingement and confocal microscopy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2005

J. Kreth ,
E. Hagerman ,
K. Tam ,
J. Merritt ,
D. T. W. Wong ,
B. M. Wu ,
N. V. Myung ,
W. Shi  and
F. Qi
J. Kreth
Affiliation:
Department of Oral Biology and Medicine, UCLA School of Dentistry, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
E. Hagerman
Affiliation:
Department of Bioengineering, UCLA School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
K. Tam
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering. University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
J. Merritt
Affiliation:
UCLA Molecular Biology Institute, Los Angeles, CA 90025, USA
D. T. W. Wong
Affiliation:
Department of Oral Biology and Medicine, UCLA School of Dentistry, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
B. M. Wu
Affiliation:
Department of Bioengineering, UCLA School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA Department of Materials Science and Engineering, UCLA School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
N. V. Myung
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering. University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
W. Shi
Affiliation:
Department of Oral Biology and Medicine, UCLA School of Dentistry, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA UCLA Molecular Biology Institute, Los Angeles, CA 90025, USA
F. Qi
Affiliation:
Department of Oral Biology and Medicine, UCLA School of Dentistry, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
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Abstract

Microbial biofilm formation can be influenced by many physiological and genetic factors. The conventional microtiter plate assay provides useful but limited information about biofilm formation. With the fast expansion of the biofilm research field, there are urgent needs for more informative techniques to quantify the major parameters of a biofilm, such as adhesive strength and total biomass. It would be even more ideal if these measurements could be conducted in a real-time, non-invasive manner. In this study, we used quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and microjet impingement (MJI) to measure total biomass and adhesive strength, respectively, of S. mutans biofilms formed under different sucrose concentrations. In conjunction with confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and the COMSTAT software, we show that sucrose concentration affects the biofilm strength, total biomass, and architecture in both qualitative and quantitative manners. Our data correlate well with previous observations about the effect of sucrose on the adherence of S. mutans to the tooth surface, and demonstrate that QCM is a useful tool for studying the kinetics of biofilm formation in real time and that MJI is a sensitive, easy-to-use device to measure the adhesive strength of a biofilm.

Type
Research Articles
Information
Biofilms , Volume 1 , Issue 4 , October 2004 , pp. 277 - 284
Copyright
© 2005 Cambridge University Press

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