In this study total concentration,viability,culturability of indoor and outdoor bioaerosols in ten residential environments were studied by using a cultivating method and an epifluorescence microscopy method with fluorochrome (EFM/FL) using four different dyes (AO,DAPI,PI,and YOPRO-1).Results from the EFM/FL were then compared with those from the traditional cultivating method.The total indoor microbial cell concentrations measured by EFM/FL was 630 to 5200 times higher than that measured by the cultivating method; ranging from 1.38 X 10~6 to 4.48 X 10~6 cells/m~3 (microbial cells per cubic meter) with AO staining,and from 7.84 x 10~5 to 2.75 x 10~6 cells/m~3 with DAPI staining,compared with the average concentration of 721 CFU/m~3 for bacteria and 587 CFU/m~3 for fungi by the cultivating methods.The viability of bioaerosols ranged from 0.63 to 0.92 by EFM/FL with PI staining,from 0.19 to 0.72 by EFM/FL with YOPRO-1 staining,and from 0.0002 to 0.0015 by the cultivating method.The viability determined by EFM/FL was much higher than the culturability.In summary,the total microbial cell concentration and viability were highly underestimated by the cultivating method.In conclusion,EFM/FL method can effectively assess the total concentration and viability of bioaerosols in indoor samples.
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