Login / Signup

Rapid, Noninvasive, and Nondestructive Method for Biofilm Imaging on Metallic Surfaces Using Active Thermography.

Mônica VossKeiti Oliveira AlessioRoberto Christ Vianna SantosMárcia Ebling de SouzaDariane Jornada ClericiRoger WagnerAlexandre José CichoskiAdilson Ben da CostaGilson Augusto HelferGuilherme Saldanha MachadoJorge Luis Victoria BarbosaEdson Irineu MüllerJuliano Smanioto Barin
Published in: Analytical chemistry (2020)
A simple, rapid, low-cost method was proposed for the imaging of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms on metallic surfaces using an infrared camera. Stainless steel coupons were cooled to generate a thermal gradient in relation to biofilm for active thermography (AT). Both cooling and image acquisition times were optimized and the images obtained with AT were compared with those from scanning electron microscopy. A free software (Thermofilm) was developed for image processing and the results were compared with the software ImageJ, with good agreement (from 87.7 to 103.8%). Images of coupons treated with sanitizer (peracetic acid) were obtained to show the applicability of the proposed method for biofilm studies. All analytical steps could be performed in 3 min in a noncontact, nondestructive, low-cost, portable, and easy-to-use way.
Keyphrases