Flowcell culture of Porphyromonas gingivalis biofilms under anaerobic conditions.

We have developed an anaerobic biofilm culture system. The system is inexpensive, simple to use and, unlike an anaerobic glovebox, requires no dedicated space. As a test of the system, Porphyromonas gingivalis was cultured under low oxygen (1-2 ppm) and under anaerobic conditions (</=0.1 ppm O(2)). In the presence of small amounts of oxygen, the organism attached and formed an initial biofilm over the course of 4 h, but the biofilm was unable to maintain its growth and had lost biomass after 18 h. Also, ambiguous results were obtained when the biofilm was stained with a viability stain. Under anaerobic conditions, the biofilm was able to continue growth - biomass was greater after 18 h than after 4 h, and the anaerobic biofilm had a less ambiguous staining pattern than did the low-O(2)-grown biofilm.