Chairside sensor for rapid monitoring of Enterococcus faecalis activity.

In this study, optical spectroscopy was used to monitor a chromogenic, enzyme-substrate reaction for the rapid identification of Enterococcus faecalis. The detection system, comprising a miniature spectrophotometer and an accompanying data acquisition system, was placed in an incubator. During testing, a 3-ml test sample was placed in a cuvette within the spectrophotometer. This permitted online, real-time, and remote analysis of spectral signature needed to monitor the bacteria. It was observed that the absorption peak intensity increased conspicuously 3.5 h after inoculation and through the entire period of testing. A linear-regression analysis demonstrated a significant correlation between the increase in absorption peak intensity at 610 nm (r = 0.9389) and 653 nm (r = 0.9387) with the formation of colony-forming units. Optical spectroscopy-based sensing systems can pave the way for rapid, nonlaboratory-based approaches to monitor microbial status quantitatively and qualitatively from clinical samples.