Detection and Analysis of the Growth Characteristics of Proteus vulgaris With a Bulk Acoustic Wave Ammonia Sensor

Abstract

A bulk acoustic wave ammonia sensor to monitor the growth of Proteus vulgaris is described. The corresponding bacterial growth response equation was derived based on the basic growth characteristics of P. vulgaris, and was verified experimentally. The application of the equation to the estimation of kinetic parameters (such as the asymptote, the maximum specific growth rate and the lag time) was accomplished successfully. The generation time is 33.3 min at 37 °C. The influence of temperature on bacterial growth was also investigated and the activation energy of P. vulgaris growth was estimated. Furthermore, the initial bacterial concentrations were determined based on the linear relationship between the inflection time, t _i , and the logarithm of the initial bacterial concentration in the range 10 ² –10 ⁷ (cells ml ^{- 1} ). The results were in good agreement with those from the pour plate count method and the precision was better than that of the frequency detection time method.