Quantification of the metabolic activities of natural biofilm of different microenvironments

Abstract

Background and Objective: The study of the microbial biofilm of drainage pipes has traditionally been based on culturing organisms. The development and application of culture independent methods have supplied new tools for examining the microbial diversity and activity of biofilm samples. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to quantify some microbial metabolic activities of natural biofilm to establish a relationship between the populations of biofilm cell and their metabolic activities and to compare the biofilm cell densities in biofilm sample collected from different microenvironments. Materials and Methods: Natural biofilm samples were collected from different microenvironments. Total Bacterial Counts (TBC) of biofilm were enumerated at two different temperatures (37 and 22°C). Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), polysaccharides and protein level were quantified. Statistical analyses were performed using GraphPad Prism version 5.0 (USA) software. Results: There is a well relationship between TBC and ATP level, thus ATP can be used as a quick and direct technique for enumeration of bacterial biofilm populations. Also, results cleared that, the biofilm cells densities were greater in the kitchen and hospital drainage pipes than others. The quantities of protein in each whole and EPS biofilm were more than polysaccharide. Conclusion: It is concluded that determination of biofilm cells was depending on their metabolic products and the viability of the bacteria. The amounts of ATP, protein and polysaccharides are dissimilar according to the bacterial cell numbers and the types of microenvironment.