PLUNC Is a Novel Airway Surfactant Protein with Anti-Biofilm Activity
Figure 7
PLUNC inhibits biofilms growing at the air-surface interface.
(A) Crystal violet staining of P. aeruginosa PA14 biofilms shows that PLUNC (100 µg/mL) reduced the biofilm biomass accumulating on the sides of culture tubes after 72 hours of growth. (B) The amount of crystal violet retained by biofilms was quantitated using optical density measurements. Growth of PLUNC-treated biofilms (n = 3) was significantly inhibited compared to non-treated and buffer-treated biofilms. Error bars show standard deviation. * P<0.025. (C) Biofilms formed at the air-liquid interface of unshaken cultures after 48 hours of growth. (D) Magnification of areas outlined in panel C shows that in media containing 100 µg/mL PLUNC, biomass spontaneously separates from the air-liquid interface biofilm and sinks toward the bottom of the culture tube.