Certain Interfacial Tension Relations and the Behavior of Bacteria in Films

Abstract

Phenomena exhibited by motile and by acid-fast microorganisms in two-phase liquid films are described in this communication. Considerations of interfacial surface tension which have proven successful in the hands of other workers with somewhat allied systems are applied to bacteria in simple and modified films. It is shown that theory and observation are in agreement, although in the absence of means of evaluating solid-liquid interracial tensions a rigorously quantitative test is not possible. The technique employed is found to give an experimental means of discriminating between existing theories concerning the surface tension factor in phagocytosis. Theoretical.The principles involved are set forth in a comprehensive article on capillary phenomena by J. Clark Maxwell. 1 "If three fluids which do not mix are in contact with each other, the three surfaces of separation meet in a line, straight or curved. Let O [Text- fig. 1] be a point in this line, and let the plane of the paper be supposed to be normal to the line at the point O. The three angles between the tangent planes to the three surfaces of separation at the point 0 are completely determined by the tensions of the three surfaces."When a solid body is in contact with two fluids, the surface of the solid cannot alter its form, but the angle at which the surface of contact of the two fluids meets the surface of the solid depends on the values of the three surfacetensions. If a and b are the two fluids and c the solid, then the equilibrium of the tensions at the point O depends only on that of thin components parallel 1Maxwell, J. C., Capillary action, in Encyclopaedia Britannica, Cambridge, llth edition, 1910-11, v, 262.

Adhesion of Actinomyces viscosus to Porphyromonas (Bacteroides) gingivalis-coated hexadecane droplets

“…Of considerable interest was the observation that the adhering cells did not appear to penetrate into the hexadecane phase or to substantially deform the interface (Fig. 3), in contrast to the prediction of Mudd and Mudd, which was based on interfacial tension considerations (19).…”

Endocytosis: a review of mechanisms and plasma membrane dynamics

“…The hydrophobicity, charge, and chemical composition of the surface of a particle play an important role in determining the nature of particle-cell interaction. Mudd & Mudd (1924) first postulated that encapsulated bacteria are much less readily ingested by mammalian phagocytes than are unencapsulated variants of the same species because of diminished hydrophobic forces at the surface of the capsule. This hypothesis, extended to include effects of particle charge, has received experimental support from a variety of systems using both bacterial and fungal substrates (van Oss & Gillman, 1972;Stendahl & Edebo, 1972;Stendahl et al, 1973Stendahl et al, , 1974Stendahl et al, , 1977aMagnusson et al, 1979;Pesanti, 1979;Kozel et al, 1980).…”

Influence of substratum surface chemistry/energy and topography on the human fetal osteoblastic cell line hFOB 1.19: Phenotypic and genotypic responses observed in vitro☆

“…1 coarsely categorizes different approaches that have been taken to the problem of cell adhesion, along with some early (but not necessarily first) literature citations that, in the authors' view, are archetypes for work that was to follow along the same theme. In the early years, say 1960's through mid 1980's, there was enthusiasm that cell adhesion could be substantially understood using colloid science, surface chemical, and surface thermodynamic principles (the pioneering 1924 work of Mudd and Mudd [26,27] in bacteria adhesion was possibly the first application of surface thermodynamics to cell adhesion). A number of imaginative physicochemical theories were developed to explain the cell adhesion process [4][5][6][7][8][28][29][30][31][32][33] with the goal of establishing a predictive basis for optimizing biocompatibilityor at least a rational basis for explaining how substratum surface properties so profoundly affect cell-material interactions.…”