Bacteria Viability in Sol-Gel Materials Revisited: Cryo-SEM as a Suitable Tool To Study the Structural Integrity of Encapsulated Bacteria

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• 作者：Maria L. Ferrer ; Zaira Y. Garcia-Carvajal ; Luis Yuste ; Fernando Rojo ; and Francisco del Monte
• 刊名：Chemistry of Materials
• 出版年：2006
• 出版时间：March 21, 2006
• 年：2006
• 卷：18
• 期：6
• 页码：1458 - 1463
• 全文大小：200K
• 年卷期：v.18,no.6(March 21, 2006)
• ISSN：1520-5002

文摘

Biocompatibility is an important issue that still needs research if one desires to fully preserve themetabolic activity of cells encapsulated in any type of material. Spectroscopic techniques (e.g., NMRand fluorescence) have been used to study the viability decrease upon aging time of bacteria encapsulatedin silica gel materials. Unfortunately, none of these spectroscopic techniques are able to provide insightsabout the detrimental causes affecting the viability of encapsulated cells. The current work uses cryo-scanning electron microscopy (cryo-SEM) for the in situ study of hydrated biocomposites, given its abilityfor mapping the water distribution within the host matrix. Cryo-SEM is accompanied by fluorescenceexperiments which allow correlating the metabolic activity of the cells with their structural integrity.The combination of these techniques provides useful information for the design of new biocompositeswhere encapsulated bacteria preserve their structural integrity and, thus, are viable for periods of time ina range similar to those found for bacteria suspended in buffered solutions.