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This study investigates the impact of hydrodynamic forces on the development of bacterial biofilms in a microfluidic environment, revealing that increased fluid velocity and shear stress can significantly influence biofilm morphology and density. The results suggest that optimal biofilm formation occurs at moderate fluid velocities, while extreme velocities can lead to biofilm disruption and detachment. These findings have implications for the design of Microbial Electrochemical Systems (MES) that utilize biofilms for electricity generation or other applications.

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Abstract

In aquatic environments, microorganisms tend to form biofilms on surfaces to protect them from harsh conditions. The biofilms then accumulate into multilayered mat-like structures. In this study, we evaluated the effects of the hydrodynamic conditions on the ecology of biofilms produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA14). In microfluidic channels, we found that the development of biofilms was regulated by hydrodynamic conditions, but the developed biofilms also changed flow velocity by narrowing flow width. The coupled growing conditions were simplified by a new concept of consequent variables, and the dimensionless biofilm development (Ab/h(2) & Ab/w(cs)(2)) was successfully expressed by the Reynolds number (Re) and the dimension of the channel (r). At low Re, higher flow rates encouraged growth of biofilms, while higher flow rates with high Re suppressed growth of biofilms. These results provide a simple model as a theoretical basis for understanding development of biofilms in microfluidic channels.

Keywords

BiofilmMicrofluidicsDimensionless quantityReynolds numberFlow (mathematics)Flow conditions

Identifiers

DOI
10.1039/c3lc40802g
PubMed
23576069
Journal
Lab on a Chip
Year
2013