• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.169-174
• /
• 1983

The study was concerned with the biological denitrification of wastewater using the fluidization of biofilm-coated carbon particles. And the effect of Glucose and biofilm thickness on denitrification was mainly investigated. Experimental results showed that biofilm thickness increased with the growth of bacteria and 14 days after the beginning of operation, the thickness approached 300-310${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. It was found that biofilm thickness was directly concerned with the removal efficiency of NO$_3$$^{[-10]}$ -N. As the results of experiments to find out the influence of Glucose on denitrification, Glucose, 60% excess from stoichiometric quantity was adequate and sufficient to react the bacteria with NO$_3$$^{[-10]}$ -N.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.74-80
• /
• 2012

Candida albicans is a common opportunistic pathogen and is frequently associated with biofilm formation occurring on the surfaces of host tissues and medical devices. On account of the distinct resistance of C. albicans biofilms to the conventional antifungal agents, new strategies are required to cope with these infections. The root of Polygonum cuspidatum has been used for medicinal purposes in East Asia. The aim of this study was to assess the anticandidal potential of the P. cuspidatum ethanol extract by evaluating biofilm formation, integrity of the cell membranes of C. albicans and adhesion of C. albicans cells to polystyrene surfaces. The growth and development of the biofilm was assessed using an XTT reduction assay, and the extract (0.39 mg/ml) significantly reduced ($41.1{\pm}17.8%$) biofilm formation of 11 C. albicans strains. The extract damaged the cell membranes of C. albicans and remarkably inhibited cell adhesion to polystyrene surfaces. The plant extract displayed fungistatic activity without significant hemolytic activity. Based on the results of this study, the P. cuspidatum extract has promising potential for use in treating biofilm-associated Candida infection.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.47 no.2
• /
• pp.303-309
• /
• 2019

Earlier studies by our group revealed that gallic acid in phytochemicals stimulated biofilm production in epiphytes, while caffeic acid in phytochemicals inhibited biofilm production in non-epiphytes. It is well documented that antimicrobial secretion by some epiphytic bacteria inhibits non-epiphytic bacterial growth on leaf surfaces. These selection criteria help plants choose their microbial inhabitants. Calcium and iron in phytochemicals also stimulate biofilm formation and thus, may be selection criteria adopted by plants with respect to their native epiphytic population. Furthermore, the processing of leaves during phytochemical extraction impacts the composition of the extract, and therefore its ability to affect bacterial biofilm formation. Computation of the Hurst exponent using biofilm thickness data obtained from the Ellipsometry of Brewster Angle Microscopic (BAM) images is an efficient tool for understanding the impact of phytochemicals on epiphytic and non-epiphytic populations when compared to fluorescent microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and staining techniques. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report that uses the Hurst exponent to elucidate the mechanism involved in plant microbe interaction.

• Journal of Magnetics
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.289-296
• /
• 2013

This work presents results of the study which concerns the influence of the rotating magnetic field (RMF) on the growth rate, cell metabolic activity and ability to form biofilms by E. coli and S. aureus. Liquid cultures of the bacteria were exposed to the RMF (RMF frequency f = 1-50 Hz, RMF magnetic induction B = 22-34 mT, time of exposure t = 60 min, temperature of incubation $37^{\circ}C$). The present study indicate the exposition to the RMF, as compared to the unexposed controls causing an increase in the growth dynamics, cell metabolic activities and percentage of biofilm-forming bacteria, in both S. aureus and E. coli cultures. It was also found that the stimulating effects of the RMF exposition enhanced with its increasing frequencies and magnetic inductions.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.26 no.6
• /
• pp.767-777
• /
• 2012

Annular Biofilm Reactor (ABR) equipped with coupons of three different pipe materials (STS 304, PVC, PE) was used to generate drinking water biofilm samples. The level of assimilable organic carbon (AOC) during the sample generation period was $37.3{\mu}g/L$, and this level did not seem to be low enough to limit the formation of biofilm in this study. Terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analyses determined T-RF profile as early as 3 h of exposure on PVC coupons. Average surface roughness ($R_a$) measured by atomic force microscopic analyses was 125.7 nm for PVC, and this value was higher than for STS (71.6 nm) and PE (74.0 nm). However, biofilm formation was faster on STS (6 h) than on PE (12 h), which indicated that surface roughness might not be the only factor that controlled the initiation of biofilm development. Upon detection of the T-RF peaks, richness (S) and diversity indices such as Shannon (H) and Simpson (1/D) demonstrated a rather slow increase until 48 h followed by rapid increase regardless of the pipe materials. Differences of microbial community structures among the biofilm samples were determined based on the cluster analysis using Jaccard coefficients (Sj). Biofilm communities could be divided into two distinct groups according to the exposure time regardless of the pipe materials. First group contained a young (< 48 h) biofilm samples (10 out of 11) but second group contained a mature (${\geq}$ 48 h) samples (11 out of 14). Results suggested that, due to the complexity of biofilm, the targeting of the first group of cluster was crucial for optimizing the management of drinking water distribution systems and controlling microbial growth.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.21 no.12
• /
• pp.1495-1501
• /
• 2012

In this study, an experiment was conducted on influent water with low concentrations of organic matter, such as river water or secondary treatment water of a sewage treatment plant, according to HRT changes by using aerobic biofilm. In the biofilm process, as the biofilm increases in thickness, the inner membrane can be low in oxygen transfer rate and become anaerobic conditions, while the detachment of biomass from biofilm occurs. To overcome these limitations in the detachment of microorganisms in biofilm, the yarn, which was made from poly propylene(PP), was weaved and manufactured into a tube. Then, a test was carried out by injecting air so that the interior of the biofilm could create aerobic conditions. The results of the experiment showed that the removal efficiency of $TCOD_{cr}$ reached 66.1~81.2% by HRT 2hr, and 50.9 ~61.8% after HRT 1 hr. The removal efficiency of $SCOD_{cr}$ was 45.9 to 55.1% by HRT 1hr, and 26.1% in HRT 0.5hr, showing the highest removal efficiency in HRT 1hr. The SS removal efficiency was at 81.8 to 94.6%, and the effluent SS concentration was very low, indicating less than 2.2 mg/L in all HRT's. As a result, the $SCOD_{cr}$ and $NH_4{^+}$-N that were removed per specific surface area and attached to microbial biofilm showed the highest efficiency in HRT 1hr with 8.37 $gSCOD_{cr}/m^2{\cdot}d$, 2.93 $gNH_4{^+}-N/m^2{\cdot}d$. From the result of reviewing the characteristics of biofilm growth, microorganisms were found to be attached, and increased by 36 days. Later, they decreased in number through detachment, but showed a tendency to increase again 41 days later due to microbial reproduction.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.209-218
• /
• 2012

Recently, as reinforced water quality standards for wastewater has been announced, more efficient and more powerful wastewater treatment processes are required rather than the existing activated sludge process. In order to meet this demands, we evaluate Task 1-4 about lab scale $A_{2}O$　process using biofilm media. Task 1, 2, and 3 use 'Module A' which has 4 partitions (Anoxic/Anerobic/Oxic/Oxic). Task 4 uses 'Module B' which has 2 partitions including a denitrification reactor with an Inclined plug flow reactor (IPFR) and a nitrification reactor with biofilm media. The denitrification reactor of Module B is designed to be upward flow using IPFR. The result of evaluating at each Task has shown that attached growth system has better capacity of removal efficiency for organic matter and nitrogen with the exception of phosphorus.　Task 4 which has the most outstanding removal efficiency has 90.5% of $BOD_{5}$ removal efficiency, 97.8% of ${NH_4}^{+}-N$ removal efficiency, 65% of T-N removal efficiency and 92% of T-P removal efficiency with additional chemical phosphorus removal system operated at HRT 9hr, Qi:Qir 1:2, and BOD/T-N ratio 2.7.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.209-215
• /
• 2016

Chlorhexidine has long been used in mouth washes for the control of dental caries, gingivitis and dental plaque. Minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) is the lowest concentration of an antimicrobial substance to inhibit the growth of bacteria. Concentrations lower than the MIC are called sub minimal inhibitory concentrations (sub-MICs). Many studies have reported that sub-MICs of antimicrobial substances can affect the virulence of bacteria. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of sub-MIC chlorhexidine on biofilm formation and coaggregation of oral early colonizers, such as Streptococcus gordonii, Actinomyces naeslundii and Actinomyces odontolyticus. The biofilm formation of S. gordonii, A. naeslundii and A. odontolyticus was not affected by sub-MIC chlorhexidine. However, the biofilm formation of S. mutans increased after incubation with sub-MIC chlorhexidine. In addition, cell surface hydrophobicity of S. mutans treated with sub-MIC of chlorhexidine, decreased when compared with the group not treated with chlorhexidine. However, significant differences were seen with other bacteria. Coaggregation of A. naeslundii with A. odontolyticus reduced by sub-MIC chlorhexidine, whereas the coaggreagation of A. naeslundii with S. gordonii remained unaffected. These results indicate that sub-MIC chlorhexidine could influence the binding properties, such as biofilm formation, hydrophobicity and coaggregation, in early colonizing streptococci and actinomycetes.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.15 no.6
• /
• pp.1221-1228
• /
• 2005

Carbon electrode was applied to a wastewater treatment system as biofilm media. The spatial distribution of heterotrophic bacteria in aerobic wastewater biofilm grown on carbon electrode was investigated by scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and biomass measurement. Five volts of electric oxidation and reduction potential were charged to the carbon anode and cathode of the bioelectrochemical system, respectively, but were not charged to electrodes of a conventional system. To correlate the biofilm architecture of bacterial populations with their activity, the bacterial treatment efficiency of organic carbons was measured in the bioelectrochemical system and compared with that in the conventional system. In the SEM image, the biofilm on the anodic medium of the bioelectrochemical system looked intact and active; however, that on the carbon medium of the conventional system appeared to be shrinking or damaging. In the AFM image, the thickness of biofilm formed on the carbon medium was about two times of those on the anodic medium. The bacterial treatment efficiency of organic carbons in the bioelectrochemical system was about 1.5 times higher than that in the conventional system. Some denitrifying bacteria can metabolically oxidize $H_{2}$, coupled to reduction of $NO_{3}^{-}\;to\;N_{2}$. $H_{2}$ was produced from the cathode in the bioelectrochemical system by electrolysis of water but was not so in the conventional system. The denitrification efficiency was less than $22\%$ in the conventional system and more than $77\%$ in the bioelectrochemical system. From these results, we found that the electrochemical coupling reactions between aerobic and anaerobic reactors may be a useful tool for improvement of wastewater treatment and denitrification efficiency, without special manipulations such as bacterial growth condition control, C/N ratio (the ratio of carbon to nitrogen) control, MLSS returning, or biofilm refreshing.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.14 no.6
• /
• pp.45-52
• /
• 2009

Naphthalene-degrading bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa CZ6 isolated from contaminated soil can adhere to crystal naphthalene and produce extracellular polymeric substance. LB, YM and MSM medium were used as culture mediums to investigate the formation of biofilm. Biofilm was developed the most in LB medium by Pseudomonas aeruginosa CZ6. In the culture, strain CZ6 growth was rarely affected by naphthalene concentration. Optimal culture condition was $30^{\circ}C$ and pH 7 at 0.10% substrate and 150 rpm shaking. The effect of culture medium on naphthalene degradation in the two soil slurry system was evaluated. The initial degradation rate of naphthalene was highest in the MSM medium of soil slurry. However, the sorbed naphthalene was rapidly degraded at the LB medium when naphthalene availability in liquid was limited. The results of this study suggest that biofilm formation and extracellular polymeric substance production increased bioavailability of soil sorbed naphthalene.