title: Generalized relationship between numbers of bacteria and their viability in biofilms.
abstract: Bacterial biofilms are confined communities that are encapsulated in protective layers of extracellular polymeric substances. Microscopic evaluation of biofilms of diverse bacterial strains on various substrata reveals that, in general, the percentage of viable bacteria decreases with the total number of bacteria in a biofilm.
authors.affiliation: Department of BioMedical Engineering, University Medical Center Groningen and University of Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, 9713 AV Groningen, The Netherlands. J.Sjollema@med.umcg.nl
authors.forename: Jelmer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sjollema
authors.forename: Minie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rustema-Abbing
authors.forename: Henny C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: van der Mei
authors.forename: Henk J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Busscher
mesh_terms: D058491:Bacterial Load; D018441:Biofilms; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000502:physiology*; D050296:Microbial Viability; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000502:physiology*; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000502:physiology*