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The use of microscopy and three-dimensional visualization to evaluate the structure of microbial biofilms cultivated in the calgary biofilm device

Biological Procedures Online volume 8, pages 194–215 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Microbes frequently live within multicellular, solid surface-attached assemblages termed biofilms. These microbial communities have architectural features that contribute to population heterogeneity and consequently to emergent cell functions. Therefore, three-dimensional (3D) features of biofilm structure are important for understanding the physiology and ecology of these microbial systems. This paper details several protocols for scanning electron microscopy and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) of biofilms grown on polystyrene pegs in the Calgary Biofilm Device (CBD). Furthermore, a procedure is described for image processing of CLSM data stacks using amira™, a virtual reality tool, to create surface and/or volume rendered 3D visualizations of biofilm microorganisms. The combination of microscopy with microbial cultivation in the CBD — an apparatus that was designed for highthroughput susceptibility testing — allows for structure-function analysis of biofilms under multivariate growth and exposure conditions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, T2N 1N4, Canada

    Raymond J. Turner

  2. Department of Biological Sciences and Biofilm Research Group, University of Calgary, T2N 1N4, Canada

    Joe J. Harrison, Howard Ceri & Carol A. Stremick

  3. Electric and Computer Engineering, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, T2N 1N4, Canada

    Jerome Yerly & Yaoping Hu

  4. Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, T2N 1N4, Canada

    Robert Martinuzzi

Authors
  1. Joe J. Harrison
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  2. Howard Ceri
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  4. Carol A. Stremick
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  7. Raymond J. Turner
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Correspondence to Raymond J. Turner.

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Open Access This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Harrison, J.J., Ceri, H., Yerly, J. et al. The use of microscopy and three-dimensional visualization to evaluate the structure of microbial biofilms cultivated in the calgary biofilm device. Biol. Proced. Online 8, 194–215 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1251/bpo127

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1251/bpo127

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