Salinas Domján C, Valente M, Romero MR. Mass Density Characterization of Hydrogel-Based Systems Inoculated with Bacterial Strains and Dose-Response Performance of
Escherichia coli Inoculation.
J Funct Biomater 2025;
16:121. [PMID:
40278229 PMCID:
PMC12028250 DOI:
10.3390/jfb16040121]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2025] [Revised: 03/24/2025] [Accepted: 03/26/2025] [Indexed: 04/26/2025] Open
Abstract
This study aims to determine the density of two hydrogel-based media, medium with agar-agar and medium with agar-agar and glucose, which are suitable for both irradiation and bacterial growth, considering the presence or absence of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli strains. The viability of Escherichia coli cell-inoculated systems was also evaluated to explore potential applications in radiation dosimetry within the 0-10 Gy range, using spectrophotometric and bacterial culture methods. Mass density measurements were performed at varying temperatures using two approaches: the first one, based on direct measurements of mass and volume, yielded densities comparable to liquid water, with uncertainties ranging from 9 to 16%, while the second approach, employing Archimedes' principle (mass in air vs. mass in a liquid of known density), produced more accurate results, with uncertainties between 0.04 and 0.08%, thus proving more reliable for density determinations. Furthermore, the feasibility study of Escherichia coli-inoculated systems for ionizing radiation dosimetry demonstrated a linear spectrophotometric response to radiation doses across the investigated range, particularly for samples stored at 25 °C. The studied systems were characterized in terms of the corresponding growth curve and post-irradiation bacterial survival, supporting their potentiality as reliable ionizing radiation dosimeters.
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