Abstract

The aim of the current study is to establish a simple and fast method that can be easily applied in hospitals for the differentiation of biofilm and planktonic Staphylococcus aureusstrains. To achieve the objective, two reference strains, methicillin resistant S. aureus(MRSA) and methicillin sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) were examined using three types of methods; adhesion capacity of bacteria on polystyrene surfaces was verified using the quantification method followed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) in order to confirm the production of biofilm. In addition, to make a meaningful comparison of biofilm cells in stationary phase with a planktonic phase, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) method was used. The results from this study demonstrated that the cells of the biofilm and planktonic cells can be differentiated by the simple MIC method. This study led to the development and improvement of methods for differentiation and detection of biofilm production of S. aureus.

Key words: Biofilm, methicillin sensitive Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin resistantS. aureus, microtiter plate, scanning electron microscope, minimum inhibitory concentration, vancomycin.