Hydrodynamic effects on bacterial biofilm development in a microfluidic environment.

In aquatic environments, microorganisms tend to form biofilms on surfaces to protect them from harsh conditions. The biofilms then accumulate into multilayered mat-like structures. In this study, we evaluated the effects of the hydrodynamic conditions on the ecology of biofilms produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA14). In microfluidic channels, we found that the development of biofilms was regulated by hydrodynamic conditions, but the developed biofilms also changed flow velocity by narrowing flow width. The coupled growing conditions were simplified by a new concept of consequent variables, and the dimensionless biofilm development (Ab/h(2) & Ab/w(cs)(2)) was successfully expressed by the Reynolds number (Re) and the dimension of the channel (r). At low Re, higher flow rates encouraged growth of biofilms, while higher flow rates with high Re suppressed growth of biofilms. These results provide a simple model as a theoretical basis for understanding development of biofilms in microfluidic channels.

[1]  John G. Thomas,et al.  Managing the complexity of a dynamic biofilm. , 2006, Journal of the American Dental Association.

[2]  Thomas J Webster,et al.  The relationship between the nanostructure of titanium surfaces and bacterial attachment. , 2010, Biomaterials.

[3]  T. Kievit.  Quorum sensing in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms. , 2009 .

[4]  Jeroen S. Dickschat,et al.  Quorum sensing and bacterial biofilms. , 2010, Natural product reports.

[5]  Effects of shear stress on the secretion of extracellular polymeric substances in biofilms , 2005 .

[6]  Manjunath Hegde,et al.  Synthetic quorum-sensing circuit to control consortial biofilm formation and dispersal in a microfluidic device , 2012, Nature Communications.

[7]  S. Yoshida,et al.  Temperature-Regulated Formation of Mycelial Mat-Like Biofilms by Legionella pneumophila , 2006, Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

[8]  Alison M. Forsyth,et al.  Shear stress increases the residence time of adhesion of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. , 2011, Biophysical journal.

[9]  J. Costerton,et al.  Biofilms as complex differentiated communities. , 2002, Annual review of microbiology.

[10]  Steven M Jones,et al.  The influence of flow cell geometry related shear stresses on the distribution, structure and susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa 01 biofilms , 2009, Biofouling.

[11]  D. Berrar,et al.  Pseudomonas aeruginosa Cystic Fibrosis isolates of similar RAPD genotype exhibit diversity in biofilm forming ability in vitro , 2010, BMC Microbiology.

[12]  D. E. Contois.  Kinetics of bacterial growth: relationship between population density and specific growth rate of continuous cultures. , 1959, Journal of general microbiology.

[13]  J. Palmer,et al.  Prevalence of Biofilm-forming Bacteria in Chronic Rhinosinusitis , 2008, American journal of rhinology.

[14]  Menachem Elimelech,et al.  Influence of shear on the production of extracellular polymeric substances in membrane bioreactors. , 2009, Water research.

[15]  D. Andes,et al.  Putative Role of β-1,3 Glucans in Candida albicans Biofilm Resistance , 2006, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

[16]  B. Rittman,et al.  The effect of shear stress on biofilm loss rate. , 1982, Biotechnology and bioengineering.

[17]  Renaud Escudié,et al.  Role of shear stress on composition, diversity and dynamics of biofilm bacterial communities. , 2008, Water research.

[18]  R. M. Donlan,et al.  Biofilms and device-associated infections. , 2001, Emerging infectious diseases.

[19]  D. Davies,et al.  Understanding biofilm resistance to antibacterial agents , 2003, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery.

[20]  R. Escudié,et al.  Influence of non-uniform distribution of shear stress on aerobic biofilms , 2007 .

[21]  O. Geschke,et al.  Microfluidic dissolved oxygen gradient generator biochip as a useful tool in bacterial biofilm studies. , 2010, Lab on a chip.

[22]  Chang-Soo Lee,et al.  Effect of shear stress on the formation of bacterial biofilm in a microfluidic channel , 2011 .