Comparison of respiratory activity and culturability during monochloramine disinfection of binary population biofilms.
Biofilm bacteria challenged with monochloramine retained significant respiratory activity, even though they could not be cultured on agar plates. Microbial colony counts on agar media declined by approximately 99.9% after 1 h of disinfection, whereas the number of bacteria stained by a fluorescent redox dye experienced a 93% reduction. Integrated measures of biofilm respiratory activity, including net oxygen and glucose utilization rates, showed only a 10 to 15% reduction. In this biofilm system, measures of microbial respiratory activity and culturability yielded widely differing estimates of biocide efficacy.
Center for Biofilm Engineering, Montana State University, Bozeman 59717.
P S
PS
Stewart
T
T
Griebe
R
R
Srinivasan
C I
CI
Chen
F P
FP
Yu
D
D
deBeer
G A
GA
McFeters
D002700:Chloramines / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D007711:Klebsiella pneumoniae / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism
D002700:Chloramines; D005947:Glucose; C030816:chloramine