Patterned substrates for the study of flagellar role in early stages of biofilm formation

CAROLINA DIAZ; PATRICIA L. SCHILARDI; R. C. SALVAREZZA; M. A. FERNÁNDEZ LORENZO DE MELE

Gramado, Brasil

Congreso; 6to Congresso Latino Americano de Orgaos Artificiais e Biomateriais (COLAOB); 2010

Biofilm is a microbial community characterized by cells that attach to a substratumor interface. They are one of the most important causes of implant failures. The developmentof a biofilm involves several stages and flagellar expression of motile bacteria is consideredan important factor in this process. In order to analyze the role of flagella in the earliest stageof biofilm formation, Pseudomonas fluorescens were trapped on patterned surfaces of goldand a polymer (polyisobutylcyanoacrilate) with sub-microtrenches (MS) so as to hinder theirmotility. $anostructured gold with random orientation (CR) was used as control substrate.Atomic force microscopic (AFM) observations were made without pretreatment of thesamples. Initially, flagella with different orientations that seemed to sense the presence ofneighboring bacteria made contact with and surrounded them. On MS substrates, 2-D raftbacterial structures were observed with curly flagella. Results show that the use of AFM andpatterned substrates are useful to avoid sample pre-treatment and detect the complex roles offlagella (excluding motility function) in the earliest stage of biofilm formation on surfaces.