TY - JOUR
T1 - Bacterial Footprints in Elastic Pillared Microstructures
AU - Susarrey-Arce, Arturo
AU - Hernández-Sánchez, José Federico
AU - Marcello, Marco
AU - Diaz-Fernandez, Yuri
AU - Oknianska, Alina
AU - Sorzabal-Bellido, Ioritz
AU - Tiggelaar, Roald
AU - Lohse, Detlef
AU - Gardeniers, Han
AU - Snoeijer, Jacco
AU - Marin, Alvaro
AU - Raval, Rasmita
PY - 2018/10/15
Y1 - 2018/10/15
N2 - Soft substrates decorated with micropillar arrays are known tobe sensitive to deflection due to capillary action. In this work, we demonstratethat micropillared epoxy surfaces are sensitive to single drops of bacterialsuspensions. The micropillars can show significant deformations uponevaporation, just as capillary action does in soft substrates. The phenomenonhas been studied with five bacterial strains: S. epidermidis, L. sakei, P.aeruginosa, E. coli, and B. subtilis. The results reveal that only dropletscontaining motile microbes with flagella stimulate micropillar bending, whichleads to significant distortions and pillar aggregations forming dimers, trimers,and higher order clusters. Such deformation is manifested in characteristicpatterns that are left on the microarrayed surface following evaporation andcan be easily identified even by the naked eye. Our findings could lay theground for the design and fabrication of mechanically responsive substrates,sensitive to specific types of microorganisms.
AB - Soft substrates decorated with micropillar arrays are known tobe sensitive to deflection due to capillary action. In this work, we demonstratethat micropillared epoxy surfaces are sensitive to single drops of bacterialsuspensions. The micropillars can show significant deformations uponevaporation, just as capillary action does in soft substrates. The phenomenonhas been studied with five bacterial strains: S. epidermidis, L. sakei, P.aeruginosa, E. coli, and B. subtilis. The results reveal that only dropletscontaining motile microbes with flagella stimulate micropillar bending, whichleads to significant distortions and pillar aggregations forming dimers, trimers,and higher order clusters. Such deformation is manifested in characteristicpatterns that are left on the microarrayed surface following evaporation andcan be easily identified even by the naked eye. Our findings could lay theground for the design and fabrication of mechanically responsive substrates,sensitive to specific types of microorganisms.
KW - bacteria
KW - bending
KW - capillarity
KW - elastic micropillars
KW - responsive substrates
KW - 22/4 OA procedure
U2 - 10.1021/acsabm.8b00176
DO - 10.1021/acsabm.8b00176
M3 - Article
SN - 2576-6422
VL - 1
SP - 1294
EP - 1300
JO - ACS Applied Bio Materials
JF - ACS Applied Bio Materials
IS - 5
ER -