To study the process of biofilm formation, microorganisms were cultured in 96-well plates, on meat-peptone broth, stained with a 0,1% solution of crystalline violet for 10...15 minutes, after which the unbound dye was washed off. The quantitative accounting of the bound dye was carried out by spectrophotometry at a wavelength of 490 nm. The technique for making bacterial preparations for light and scanning electron microscopy on dodged glasses immersed in Petri dishes with a liquid nutrient medium is proposed. A suspension of bacteria at a concentration of 105 m.k/ml in a volume of 5 ml was shaken on Vortex apparatus and introduced into Petri dishes with 20 ml of meat-peptone broth. Sterile non-greased cover glasses were placed on sterile object glasses and immersed in a liquid nutrient medium in Petri dishes. The material was incubated for 18...24 hours at 37 °C. Then the cover slips were removed with tweezers and some of them were stained with 1% aqueous solution of methylene blue (for light microscopy), and some were placed in Petri dishes with bottomed filters (for electron microscopy). The latter, in order to preserve natural architectonics, were fixed in vivo by pairs of 25% glutaraldehyde for 3...5 hours. Vapors of 2...4% osmic acid solution were used for 2...3-minutes to contrast the preparations. After treatment with vapors of osmic acid, biofilms with included bacteria acquired yellowish or brown color. The obtained preparations after dehydration with propylene oxide vapors and spraying with gold ions were examined in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The technique allows us to study the phases of development of biofilms and obtain objective data on the morphology of populations of pathogenic and conditionally pathogenic bacteria without disturbing natural architectonics. It is shown that the intensity of biofilm formation by pathogenic microorganisms, such as salmonella, Yersinia, Staphylococcus aureus was slightly higher than that of non-pathogenic: Escherichia, Proteus, Citrobacter, Enterobacter.
A rapid, simple method for the genetic discrimination of intact Arabidopsis thaliana mutant seeds using metabolic profiling by direct analysis in real-time mass spectrometry
