This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Cunliffe, D.
Right arrow Articles by Vulfson, E. N.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Cunliffe, D.
Right arrow Articles by Vulfson, E. N.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Cunliffe, D.
Right arrow Articles by Vulfson, E. N.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 1999, p. 4995-5002, Vol. 65, No. 11
0099-2240/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Bacterial Adhesion at Synthetic Surfaces

D. Cunliffe, C. A. Smart, C. Alexander,* and E. N. Vulfson

Macromolecular Science Department, Institute of Food Research, Reading Laboratory, Reading RG6 6BZ, United Kingdom

Received 11 May 1999/Accepted 17 August 1999

A systematic investigation into the effect of surface chemistry on bacterial adhesion was carried out. In particular, a number of physicochemical factors important in defining the surface at the molecular level were assessed for their effect on the adhesion of Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli. The primary experiments involved the grafting of groups varying in hydrophilicity, hydrophobicity, chain length, and chemical functionality onto glass substrates such that the surfaces were homogeneous and densely packed with functional groups. All of the surfaces were found to be chemically well defined, and their measured surface energies varied from 15 to 41 mJ · m-2. Protein adsorption experiments were performed with 3H-labelled bovine serum albumin and cytochrome c prior to bacterial attachment studies. Hydrophilic uncharged surfaces showed the greatest resistance to protein adsorption; however, our studies also showed that the effectiveness of poly(ethyleneoxide) (PEO) polymers was not simply a result of its hydrophilicity and molecular weight alone. The adsorption of the two proteins approximately correlated with short-term cell adhesion, and bacterial attachment for L. monocytogenes and E. coli also correlated with the chemistry of the underlying substrate. However, for S. aureus and S. typhimurium a different pattern of attachment occurred, suggesting a dissimilar mechanism of cell attachment, although high-molecular-weight PEO was still the least-cell-adsorbing surface. The implications of this for in vivo attachment of cells suggest that hydrophilic passivating groups may be the best method for preventing cell adsorption to synthetic substrates provided they can be grafted uniformly and in sufficient density at the surface.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of Food Research, Norwich Research Park, Colney, Norwich, NR4 7UA, United Kingdom. Phone: (44) (0) 1603 255000. Fax: (44) (0) 1603 507723. E-mail for C. Alexander: cameron.alexander{at}bbsrc.ac.uk. E-mail for E. N. Vulfson: jenya.vulfson{at}bbsrc.ac.uk.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, November 1999, p. 4995-5002, Vol. 65, No. 11
0099-2240/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Waters, M. S., El-Naggar, M. Y., Hsu, L., Sturm, C. A., Luttge, A., Udwadia, F. E., Cvitkovitch, D. G., Goodman, S. D., Nealson, K. H. (2009). Simultaneous Interferometric Measurement of Corrosive or Demineralizing Bacteria and Their Mineral Interfaces. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 75: 1445-1449 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Kollef, M. H., Afessa, B., Anzueto, A., Veremakis, C., Kerr, K. M., Margolis, B. D., Craven, D. E., Roberts, P. R., Arroliga, A. C., Hubmayr, R. D., Restrepo, M. I., Auger, W. R., Schinner, R., for the NASCENT Investigation Group, (2008). Silver-Coated Endotracheal Tubes and Incidence of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia: The NASCENT Randomized Trial. JAMA 300: 805-813 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Muller, R., Groger, G., Hiller, K.-A., Schmalz, G., Ruhl, S. (2007). Fluorescence-Based Bacterial Overlay Method for Simultaneous In Situ Quantification of Surface-Attached Bacteria. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 73: 2653-2660 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Haldar, J., An, D., Alvarez de Cienfuegos, L., Chen, J., Klibanov, A. M. (2006). Polymeric coatings that inactivate both influenza virus and pathogenic bacteria. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103: 17667-17671 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Heydorn, A., Ersbøll, B. K., Hentzer, M., Parsek, M. R., Givskov, M., Molin, S. (2000). Experimental reproducibility in flow-chamber biofilms. Microbiology 146: 2409-2415 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Tiller, J. C., Liao, C.-J., Lewis, K., Klibanov, A. M. (2001). Designing surfaces that kill bacteria on contact. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98: 5981-5985 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»