AUTHOR=Maia Margarida R. G. , Marques Sara , Cabrita Ana R. J. , Wallace R. John , Thompson Gertrude , Fonseca António J. M. , Oliveira Hugo M. 

TITLE=Simple and Versatile Turbidimetric Monitoring of Bacterial Growth in Liquid Cultures Using a Customized 3D Printed Culture Tube Holder and a Miniaturized Spectrophotometer: Application to Facultative and Strictly Anaerobic Bacteria

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=7

YEAR=2016

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2016.01381

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2016.01381

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>Here we introduce a novel strategy for turbidimetric monitoring of bacterial growth in liquid culture. The instrumentation comprises a light source, a customized 3D printed culture tube holder and a miniaturized spectrophotometer, connected through optical cables. Due to its small footprint and the possibility to operate with external light, bacterial growth was directly monitored from culture tubes in a simple and versatile fashion. This new portable measurement technique was used to monitor the growth of facultative (<italic>Escherichia coli</italic> ATCC/25922, and <italic>Staphylococcus aureus</italic> ATCC/29213) and strictly (<italic>Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens</italic> JW11, <italic>Butyrivibrio proteoclasticus</italic> P18, and <italic>Propionibacterium acnes</italic> DSMZ 1897) anaerobic bacteria. For <italic>E. coli</italic> and <italic>S. aureus</italic>, the growth rates calculated from normalized optical density values were compared with those ones obtained using a benchtop spectrophotometer without significant differences (<italic>P</italic> = 0.256). For the strictly anaerobic species, a high precision (relative standard deviation &lt; 3.5%) was observed between replicates up to 48 h. Regarding its potential for customization, this manifold could accommodate further developments for customized turbidimetric monitoring, such as the use of light-emitting diodes as a light source or flow cells.</p>