The impact of material surface roughness and temperature on the adhesion of Legionella pneumophila to contact surfaces

The adhesion of bacterial cells to various surfaces is based on physical and chemical interactions between the micro-organisms and the surfaces. The main purpose of this research is to determine the effect of material roughness and incubation temperature on the adhesion of bacteria. To determine the adhesion of the bacterial strain of Legionella pneumophila ATCC 33153 to the glass coupons, a spectrophotometric method of measuring the optical density of crystal violet dye that is released from pre-stained bacterial cells attached to the test surface was used. The intensity of adhesion is in positive correlation to the increase in surface roughness (p<0.05). The adhesion is the greatest at an optimal temperature of 36 degrees C, whereas the temperature of 15 degrees C has a bacteriostatic effect and the temperature of 55 degrees C a bactericidal effect.