The potential of Optical Coherence Tomography to analyze biofilm architecture

Biofilm science has changed considerably during the last decades due to scientific and technological improvements. However, most imaging methods to analyze biofilms are ex situ and destructive. Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is a non-destructive, fast, and real-time approach, allowing biofilm in situ imaging and the measurement of different parameters, such as biofilm thickness and roughness. Despite the advantages of this optical technique, only a limited set of image processing scripts have been specifically developed for processing OCT biofilm images. Since the knowledge of biofilm architecture is important to understand all phenomena related to this complex lifestyle, the development of novel analysis parameters obtained from OCT imaging to evaluate the biofilm structure is of paramount importance.

A set of novel structural parameters obtained from three-dimensional OCT imaging was developed to quantify biofilm structure formed by different organisms, over time and on different surface materials. OCT analysis developed in this work revealed several details of the biofilm structure, including novel qualitative and quantitative data (such as biovolume, porosity, and size of nonconnected pores) that can be useful to evaluate biofilm development and biofouling control strategies in different settings, including food industries and related areas. A deeper knowledge of the biofilm requires a multidisciplinary approach since distinct techniques provide valuable and complementary information about different aspects of the biofilm's complex structure. Since OCT is a promising technique for a deeper understanding of biofilm development, this imaging tool can be applied in food processing environments and industry studies to evaluate the effectiveness of novel antifouling surfaces and physical and chemical mitigation approaches.