A Quasi-3-D Impedance Measurement Using the Square Wave Method With Parallactic Excitation for Detection of Biofilm Growth

• Published in: IEEE transactions on instrumentation and measurement Vol. 73; pp. 1 - 11
• Main Authors: Momeni, Mahdi, Echtermeyer, Danny, Frant, Marion, Martin, Daniel, Teichmann, Daniel, Pliquett, Uwe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 2024; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Bacterial biofilm; biofilm detection; Biofilms; E coli; Electrodes; Excitation; fast measurement; Finite element method; Image reconstruction; Impedance; Impedance measurement; Medical imaging; Microscopy; Monitoring; Portable equipment; quasi-3-D monitoring; Real-time systems; Scanning microscopy; Square waves; Switches; Time domain analysis; Time measurement; time-domain measurements
• ISSN: 0018-9456; 1557-9662
• DOI: 10.1109/TIM.2024.3379083

The detection and monitoring of microorganisms are of emerging interest for various industries. In this regard, an extremely important issue is biofilm-related infection in the healthcare industry demanding their early detection and monitoring. For several decades, impedance sensors have garnered significant interest in detecting bacteria due to their simple and label-free measurements. A fast impedance measurement device based on time-domain analysis was developed and used for monitoring the formation of Escherichia coli (E. coli) biofilms in real time. Using an electrode array providing 2-D information together with parallactic excitation yielded quasi-3-D resolution. A chamber with <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">2\times 16 </tex-math></inline-formula> electrodes was designed for this purpose. For evaluation of the time-domain-based measurement, we compared it with impedance measurements in the frequency domain, which showed a similar trend in impedance measurement. A finite element method (FEM) modeling has been utilized for reverse problem-solving or image reconstruction. The reconstructed images were then compared with confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) images yielding a promising correlation. Therewith, the feasibility of using the fast impedance measurement for the detection of biofilm growth with quasi-3-D resolution has been demonstrated. This approach can serve as a viable method for the development of portable devices dedicated for the detection of tissue infections.