Piezoelectric tuning fork mass sensors as a novel tool for determination of antibiotic activity on Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm

摘要

In this work an application of quartz tuning forks (QTF) in P. aeruginosa biofilm growth monitoring is presented. QTF-based mass measurement method was examined regarding its applicability in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofim mass evaluation during antibiotic treatment. Two antibiotics (gentamicin and ciprofloxacin) were tested on their antibacterial activity. Three independent methods were also applied for the experiments: standard colony count of living cells, crystal violet colorimetric method for biofilm monitoring and atomic force microscopy visualization. Using quartz tuning forks the inhibition of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm formation during antibiotic treatment was observed in correlation with other standard tests. These several experiments proved suitability and potential application of the presented technique in biofilm growth measurement for antibacterial compound activity evaluation.