title: Direct quantification of test bacteria in synthetic water-polluted samples by square wave voltammetry and chemometric methods.
abstract: A home-made microelectrode array, based on reticulated vitreous carbon, was used as working electrode in square wave voltammetry experiments to quantify the bacterial load of Escherichia coli ATCC 13706 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, chosen as test microorganisms, in synthetic samples similar to drinking water (phosphate buffer). Raw electrochemical signals were analysed with partial least squares regression coupled to variable selection in order to correlate these values with the bacterial load estimated by aerobic plate counting. The results demonstrated the ability of the method to detect even low loads of microorganisms in synthetic water samples. In particular, the model detects the bacterial load in the range 3-2,020 CFU ml(-1) for E. coli and in the range 76-155,556 CFU ml(-1) for P. aeruginosa.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica Fisica ed Inorganica, Università di Bologna e UdR INSTM di Bologna, Viale Risorgimento 4, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Carpani
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Conti
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lanteri
authors.forename: Pier Paolo
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Legnani
authors.forename: Erica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Leoni
authors.forename: Domenica
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tonelli
mesh_terms: D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D020650:Combinatorial Chemistry Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D004563:Electrochemistry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D008839:Microelectrodes; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014871:Water Microbiology; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000032:analysis*