title: Adhesion of Pseudomonas fluorescens biofilms to glass, stainless steel and cellulose.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The adhesion of colloidal probes of stainless steel, glass and cellulose to Pseudomonas fluorescens biofilms was examined using atomic force microscopy (AFM) to allow comparisons between surfaces to which biofilms might adhere.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Biofilm was grown on a stainless steel substrate and covered most of the surface after 96 h. AFM approach and retraction curves were obtained when the biofilm was immersed in a tryptone/soy medium. On approach, all the colloidal probes experienced a long non-contact phase more than 100 nm in length, possibly due to the steric repulsion by extracellular polymers from the biofilm and hydrophobic effects. Retraction data showed that the adhesion varied from position to position on the biofilm. The mean value of adhesion of glass to the biofilm (48 ± 7 nN) was the greatest, followed by stainless steel (30 ± 7 nN) and cellulose (7.8 ± 0.4 nN).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The method allows understanding of adhesion between the three materials and biofilm, and development of a better strategy to remove the biofilm from these surfaces relevant to different industrial applications.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Biosciences and Medical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, UTM Skudai, 81310, Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
authors.forename: W R Z
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Wan Dagang
authors.affiliation: Department of Engineering and Innovation, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bowen
authors.affiliation: Unilever R&D, Port Sunlight, Bebington, Wirral, UK.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: O'Keeffe
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
authors.forename: P T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Robbins
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK. z.zhang@bham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D001422:Bacterial Adhesion; D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development*; D002482:Cellulose; D005898:Glass; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D011551:Pseudomonas fluorescens / Q000502:physiology*; D013193:Stainless Steel
chemical_list: D013193:Stainless Steel; D002482:Cellulose
keywords: Adhesion; Atomic force microscopy; Biofilm; Colloidal probe; Pseudomonas fluorescens; Repulsion