title: A simple and rapid method for optical visualization and quantification of bacteria on textiles.
abstract: To prevent bacterial contamination on textiles and the associated undesired effects different biocidal coatings have been investigated and applied. However, due to health and environmental concerns anti-adhesive coatings preventing the binding of bacteria would be favored. To develop such anti-adhesive coatings simple assays for reliable and fast screening are beneficial. Here an easy-to-handle, robust and rapid assay to assess bacteria on textiles utilizing a tetrazolium salt was reported. The assay allowed direct eye visualization of the color change of the textiles containing bacteria, facilitating fast screening. Quantification of the adhered bacteria could be done by generating standard curves which correlate the staining intensity to cell numbers. An additional advantage of the described assay is that with the same detection method anti-adhesive and biocidal effects can be investigated. The method was applied to different coatings, using Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus as model organisms. The detection limit was found to be between 2.5 * 106and 9.4 * 108for P. aeruginosa and between 1 * 106and 3.3 * 108for S. aureus. The anti-adhesive coating PLUMA was demonstrated to reduce bacterial adhesion without killing them, whereas the biocidal coating TH22-27 caused a clear reduction in the number of viable cells.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Biointerfaces, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, CH-9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stiefel
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Biointerfaces, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, CH-9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: Swissatest Testmaterialien AG, Mövenstrasse 12, CH-9015 St. Gallen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Amberg
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Biointerfaces, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, CH-9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Maniura-Weber
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Biointerfaces, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, CH-9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Qun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ren
mesh_terms: D001422:Bacterial Adhesion; D057230:Limit of Detection; D008853:Microscopy; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013053:Spectrophotometry; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013778:Tetrazolium Salts / Q000737:chemistry; D013784:Textiles / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D013778:Tetrazolium Salts; C013574:iodonitrotetrazolium