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Turkish Journal of Biology

DOI

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Abstract

The surface properties of 7 different micro-organisms with their 14 different strains were examined. The contact angles of the micro-organism films were measured by a captive-bubble technique. Surface free energies were calculated from the contact angles. Hydrophobicities were also evaluated by adhesion to p-xylene. The zeta potentials and surface charges of the micro-organisms were measured using a zeta potential analyser system. The contact angles of the gram positive micro-organisms, gram negative micro-organisms and Candida ablicans were in the ranges 48-70°, 43.5-55°, and 69-75° respectively, while the corresponding surface free energies were in the ranges 44.9-60.4 erg.cm -2 , 55.3-61.8 erg.cm -2 and 46.9-50.6 erg.cm -2 respectively. The p-xylene adhesions were in parallel to the hydrophobicities defined by the contat angles: 35.4-80.3%, 2.3-36.6%, and 67.3-86.2 for the gram positive bacteria, gram negative bacteria and Candida albicans yeasts respectively. The zeta potentials for these bacteria were in the ranges 14.5-650.2 mV, 6.0-159.6 mV, and 20.7-21.7 mV respectively. Most of the bacteria were negatively charged, except for the CNS-2 and CPS-1 strains.

Keywords

Micro-organisms, hydrophobicity, contact angle, surface free energy, p-xylene adhesion, zeta potential, surface charge.

First Page

215

Last Page

232

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