Published : 2012-03-30

Analysis of the usefulness of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) determination and fluorescence microscopy methods for the evaluation of the viability and adesion of bacteria on the surface of bioactive polymers

Abstract

The usefulness of fluorescence microscopy and ATP determination methods for the assessment of the antimicrobial activity of bioactive polymers was analyzed. It was found that the simultaneous use of both methods gives full information about the adhesion to the polymer surface and cells viability. The comparison of less time-consuming and labor-intensive ATP assay with culture method shows that these methods give comparable cell viability results. The dependence of ATP content on the number of bacteria on the polymer determined by the culture method can be described, with a high degree of correlation, with exponential or linear function. The appropriate way to prepare the surfaces of bioactive polymer samples (containing biocide carriers), in order to make them smooth, reduces non-repeatability of both tested methods. For the control polymer (without additives) the repeatability error was low: 1 % for fluorescence microscopy and 3 % for ATP assay; the use of polymers with carriers increases this error to the level of 47 % and 73 %, respectively. Evaluation of the viability and adhesion of six bacteria on the bioactive polymers showed a statistically significant differences in the reduction of E. coli viability and adhesion on the polymer with copper and of S. aureus viability and adhesion on the polymer with silver. The bacterium B. cepacia proved to be highly adhesive to bioactive polymers, but her viability was effectively inhibited by the presence of silver in the polymer.


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Gutarowska, B., Piotrowska, M., Żakowska, Z., & Gwoździński, K. (2012). Analysis of the usefulness of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) determination and fluorescence microscopy methods for the evaluation of the viability and adesion of bacteria on the surface of bioactive polymers. Polimery, 57(3), 236-245. Retrieved from http://ichp.vot.pl/index.php/p/article/view/823