The majority of nanoparticles tend to agglomerate in bacterial growth media. Thus, nanoparticle-specific characteristics can get lost. To investigate the influence of nanoparticles on bacteria, these particles should ...The majority of nanoparticles tend to agglomerate in bacterial growth media. Thus, nanoparticle-specific characteristics can get lost. To investigate the influence of nanoparticles on bacteria, these particles should remain in their nanoparticulate state. The present study demonstrates the stabilization of commercially available zinc oxide (ZnO) with sodiumhexametaphosphate (SHMP) in bacterial growth medium (LB) to avoid agglomeration of these particles after the addition to LB. This established method is appropriate to stabilize ZnO agglomerates as small as 43 nm. The method of fractionated centrifugation was used to obtain stable agglomerates (also stable in the presence of bacteria) with different mean diameters. The SHMP-stabilized ZnO inhibits the growth of Pseudomonas putida with increasing concentration (up to 500 mg/L) and decreasing agglomerate size (43 - 450 nm).展开更多
Biofilm-forming microorganisms are ubiquitous, but continuous cultivation of these microorganisms with predictable biofilm growth and structural properties remains challenging. The development of a reliable simulated ...Biofilm-forming microorganisms are ubiquitous, but continuous cultivation of these microorganisms with predictable biofilm growth and structural properties remains challenging. The development of a reliable simulated biofilm has been limited by a lack of information about the microorganism subpopulations and fluid-structure interactions involved in biofilm formation and detachment due to mechanical stress. This paper presents a gellan-based hydrogel as an alternative material for a simulated physicochemical biofilm. The mechanical properties of the hydrogel in terms of the storage (G') and loss (G'') moduli can be tuned and adapted to imitate biofilms of different strengths by changing the concentration of gellan and mono(Na+) or divalent (Mg2+) ions. The storage modulus of the hydrogel ranges from 2 to 20 kPa, and the loss modulus ranges from 0.1 to 2.0 kPa. The material constants of the hydrogels and biofilms of Pseudomonas putida KT2440 were experimentally determined by rheometric analysis. A simplified biofilm imitate based on highly hydrolyzed gellan hydrogels was established by using experimental design techniques that permitted independent analyses regardless of growth. This model system design was compared to real biofilms and was adapted to mimic the mechanical properties of biofilms by changing the hydrogel composition, resulting in biofilm-like viscoelastic behavior. The use of a gellan-based hydrogel enables the imitation of biofilm behavior in the absence of growth effects, thus simplifying the system. Biofilm characterization tools can be tested and verified before their application to the measurement of slow-growing, highly variable biofilms to estimate system errors, which are often smaller than the biological variations. In general, this method permits faster and more reliable testing of biofilm mechanical properties.展开更多
The correlation of single-particle imaging and absorption spectroscopy made the development of sizing curves possible and enabled rapid size determination of semiconductor nanocrystals based solely on optical properti...The correlation of single-particle imaging and absorption spectroscopy made the development of sizing curves possible and enabled rapid size determination of semiconductor nanocrystals based solely on optical properties.The increasing demand and production of such materials has resulted in a question of comparability between existing models and adequate volume-weighted size-determining measurement techniques.Small-angle X-ray scattering(SAXS)is a well-established method for obtaining nanostructural information from particle systems while operating sample quantities up to a commercial scale with a large amount of statistically based data.This work utilizes laboratory SAXS to characterize cadmium selenide nanocrystals with band edge energies between 1.97 and 3.08 eV.The evaluation of the scattering patterns is based on an indirect Fourier transformation(IFT),while dimensional parameters are derived from the model-free pair distance distribution functions(Dmode and Dg),as well as the modeled volume(Dv)and number(Dn)-weighted size-density distributions.We find that comparable data from D̅n agree well with existing X-ray diffraction(XRD)and with transmission electron microscopy(TEM)results described in literature;this qualifies SAXS as an equivalent integral characterization method.Although based on an estimate,the radius of gyration yields equivalent accurate results.Additionally,corresponding volume-weighted data are shown that can be useful when transferring information to other techniques.Dmode parametrization represents the largest estimated size of the sample and implies that particles interact and deviate from the spherical morphology,whereas Dv demonstrates results not considering such effects.A full set of the parameters discussed quantifies the quality of a sample.展开更多
文摘The majority of nanoparticles tend to agglomerate in bacterial growth media. Thus, nanoparticle-specific characteristics can get lost. To investigate the influence of nanoparticles on bacteria, these particles should remain in their nanoparticulate state. The present study demonstrates the stabilization of commercially available zinc oxide (ZnO) with sodiumhexametaphosphate (SHMP) in bacterial growth medium (LB) to avoid agglomeration of these particles after the addition to LB. This established method is appropriate to stabilize ZnO agglomerates as small as 43 nm. The method of fractionated centrifugation was used to obtain stable agglomerates (also stable in the presence of bacteria) with different mean diameters. The SHMP-stabilized ZnO inhibits the growth of Pseudomonas putida with increasing concentration (up to 500 mg/L) and decreasing agglomerate size (43 - 450 nm).
文摘Biofilm-forming microorganisms are ubiquitous, but continuous cultivation of these microorganisms with predictable biofilm growth and structural properties remains challenging. The development of a reliable simulated biofilm has been limited by a lack of information about the microorganism subpopulations and fluid-structure interactions involved in biofilm formation and detachment due to mechanical stress. This paper presents a gellan-based hydrogel as an alternative material for a simulated physicochemical biofilm. The mechanical properties of the hydrogel in terms of the storage (G') and loss (G'') moduli can be tuned and adapted to imitate biofilms of different strengths by changing the concentration of gellan and mono(Na+) or divalent (Mg2+) ions. The storage modulus of the hydrogel ranges from 2 to 20 kPa, and the loss modulus ranges from 0.1 to 2.0 kPa. The material constants of the hydrogels and biofilms of Pseudomonas putida KT2440 were experimentally determined by rheometric analysis. A simplified biofilm imitate based on highly hydrolyzed gellan hydrogels was established by using experimental design techniques that permitted independent analyses regardless of growth. This model system design was compared to real biofilms and was adapted to mimic the mechanical properties of biofilms by changing the hydrogel composition, resulting in biofilm-like viscoelastic behavior. The use of a gellan-based hydrogel enables the imitation of biofilm behavior in the absence of growth effects, thus simplifying the system. Biofilm characterization tools can be tested and verified before their application to the measurement of slow-growing, highly variable biofilms to estimate system errors, which are often smaller than the biological variations. In general, this method permits faster and more reliable testing of biofilm mechanical properties.
基金The authors thank the Laboratory for Nano and Quantum Engineering(LNQE),Leibniz University Hannover,for the access to the TEM instrument and Dr.Brian Pauw from the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und-prüfung(BAM)in Berlin for the scientific discussion about SAXS and the provision of the Ag-reference.We also acknowledge the work of David Niedbalka and Marcel Pastuschek who contributed to this research during their time as students.This research was partially funded by Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kultur through the“Quantumand Nano-Metrology(QUANOMET)”initiative(ZN3245)within the scope of the NP-1 project.Furthermore,we acknowledge financial travel support by the DFG Research Training Group GrK1952“Metrology for Complex Nanosystems(NanoMet)”.
文摘The correlation of single-particle imaging and absorption spectroscopy made the development of sizing curves possible and enabled rapid size determination of semiconductor nanocrystals based solely on optical properties.The increasing demand and production of such materials has resulted in a question of comparability between existing models and adequate volume-weighted size-determining measurement techniques.Small-angle X-ray scattering(SAXS)is a well-established method for obtaining nanostructural information from particle systems while operating sample quantities up to a commercial scale with a large amount of statistically based data.This work utilizes laboratory SAXS to characterize cadmium selenide nanocrystals with band edge energies between 1.97 and 3.08 eV.The evaluation of the scattering patterns is based on an indirect Fourier transformation(IFT),while dimensional parameters are derived from the model-free pair distance distribution functions(Dmode and Dg),as well as the modeled volume(Dv)and number(Dn)-weighted size-density distributions.We find that comparable data from D̅n agree well with existing X-ray diffraction(XRD)and with transmission electron microscopy(TEM)results described in literature;this qualifies SAXS as an equivalent integral characterization method.Although based on an estimate,the radius of gyration yields equivalent accurate results.Additionally,corresponding volume-weighted data are shown that can be useful when transferring information to other techniques.Dmode parametrization represents the largest estimated size of the sample and implies that particles interact and deviate from the spherical morphology,whereas Dv demonstrates results not considering such effects.A full set of the parameters discussed quantifies the quality of a sample.
