Diagnosis of viral particles by an acoustic system consisting of the piezoelectric resonator with a lateral exciting electric field and microbial cells as a sensor element

Abstract

An acoustic sensory system for the bacteriophage detection has been developed. The sensor represented a resonator with a lateral electric field based on a PZT ceramic plate including two electrodes and liquid container. The microbial cells exhibiting sensitivity to the determined bacteriophage were used as a sensor element. To analyze bacteriophages, the container was filled with a suspension of the microbial cells, and the values of the real part of the sensor impedance at the resonant frequencies were measured. The subsequent addition of specific bacteriophages led to a significant (up to 50%) decrease in the real part of the sensor impedance. The analysis time did not exceed 5 min. The presented results may be used as the basis for the development of a biological sensor for bacteriophage detection.

Keywords

• Bacteriophages
• PZT resonator with a lateral electric field
• Bacterial cells
• Electrical impedance