Both nettle (Urtica dioica) and cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccus) are widely known to have good influence on health. The aim of this study was to investigate antimicrobial properties of nettle powder and cranberry powder against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and monitor the growth of the bacteria by a rapid flow cytometry (FCM) method. For FCM measurements samples were stained with fluorescent dyes. The inhibitory effects of plant material on growth of E. coli were estimated by comparing the results of control sample (E. coli) to E. coli samples with plant material. FCM offers both a brilliant tool to investigate the kinetics of the growth of bacterium, since subsamples can be taken from the same liquid medium during the growing period and with fluorescent dyes a rapid method to investigate viability of the bacterium.

Date Published: 24 November 2010
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 7376, Laser Applications in Life Sciences, 73760K (24 November 2010);

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7376:
Laser Applications in Life Sciences
Matti Kinnunen; Risto Myllylä, Editor(s)