Open AccessIn Vitro Laser Ablation of Natural Marine Biofilms
Author(s) -
Kutty Selva Nandakumar,
Hideki Obika,
Akihiro Utsumi,
Toshihiko Ooie,
Tetsuo Yano
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
applied and environmental microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.552
H-Index - 324
eISSN - 1070-6291
pISSN - 0099-2240
DOI - 10.1128/aem.70.11.6905-6908.2004
Subject(s) - irradiation , fluence , titanium , materials science , laser , biofilm , neodymium , yttrium , laser ablation , optics , bacteria , metallurgy , biology , physics , nuclear physics , genetics , oxide
We studied the efficiency of pulsed low-power laser irradiation of 532 nm from an Nd:YAG (neodymium-doped yttrium-aluminum-garnet) laser to remove marine biofilm developed on titanium and glass coupons. Natural biofilms with thicknesses of 79.4 +/- 27.8 microm (titanium) and 107.4 +/- 28.5 microm (glass) were completely disrupted by 30 s of laser irradiation (fluence, 0.1 J/cm2). Laser irradiation significantly reduced the number of diatoms and bacteria in the biofilm (paired t test; P < 0.05). The removal was better on titanium than on glass coupons.