title: Pattern of growth and respiratory activity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker's yeast) cells growing entrapped in an insolubilized gelatin gel.
abstract: Yeast cells immobilized by entrapment in an insolubilized gelatin gel have been investigated with regard to their pattern of growth and respiratory activity. Mass-transfer resistance offered by the matrix and growth of the entrapped cells determine a gradient of nutrients throughout the gel which is responsible for both a lower specific growth rate of immobilized cells with respect to that of free ones, and a heterogeneous biomass distribution, with progressively increased cellular density from the inside to the outside of the matrix. The spatial organization of the growing cells leads to the formation of a biofilm perfectly adherent to the surface of the matrix. Measurements of the oxygen-uptake rate of the immobilized cells, after having been released from the matrix by trypsin digestion, and confocal microscopy of cells stained with Rhodamine 123 demonstrate the occurrence of a gradient of respiratory activity throughout the immobilized culture.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica e Alimentare, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Fisciano, Italy.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Parascandola
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: de Alteriis
mesh_terms: D002455:Cell Division / Q000502:physiology; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D005780:Gelatin; D005782:Gels; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology*; D020112:Rhodamine 123; D012235:Rhodamines; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology; D012995:Solubility
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D005782:Gels; D012235:Rhodamines; D020112:Rhodamine 123; D005780:Gelatin