Investigating bacterial interactions with polymer surfaces using attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.

摘要

We have investigated and characterized the interactions of E. coliform bacterial cells with polymeric surfaces by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Using chemical modifications to the surface of polystyrene-based polymers, we were able to characterize and compare the chemical changes taking place in the region approximately 600 to 1000 nanometers from the surface of the device. Statistical analysis performed on the spectral region from 1800 cm -1 to 800 cm-1 allowed us to identify biochemical changes in this region of the IR spectrum that suggest that polymer architecture and to a lesser degree, chemical structure, is responsible for differences between how bacterial cells were interacting with our polymers. Further investigations using scanning electron microscopy, direct bacterial culture analysis in moving and static media, ATR-FTIR microscopy, and multivariate analysis were able to collectively confirm that polymer morphology played a greater role in introducing variability into the process of adhesive interaction with E. coli bacteria than did the chemical makeup of the adherent surface.