Development of a fast and reliable method for the assessment of microbial colonization and growth on textiles by DNA quantification

There is a lack of relevant methods to assess the colonization of textiles by skin bacteria because present methods are mainly culture-based procedures. Therefore, the goal of this study was to develop a fast and sensitive culture-independent procedure for the quantification of microbial colonization and growth on textiles. We have established a suitable protocol to use DNA quantification as a reliable method for in vitro and in vivo investigations of textiles. For DNA extraction, a two-step procedure comprising treatment of the textile with a solution containing Triton X-100 and lysozyme for 1 h and a successive treatment by SDS and proteinase K for 2 h turned out to be most efficient. DNA extracted from textiles and fabrics was than quantified with the highly sensitive PicoGreen fluorescent dye. In vitro challenge tests demonstrated a strong correlation between numbers of bacteria on textiles and amount of DNA extracted from textiles. Therefore, this method was used to compare different materials after in vivo trials for assessment of their susceptibility for microbial colonization and growth. Copyright (C) 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel.