Study of pyocyanin production and biofilm formation in clinical Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Abstract

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen involved in many infections in respiratory system, urinary tract, pneumonia, wounds, and bacteremia. It has many mechanisms and virulence factors such as adaptation and survival in extreme environments. In this study, 32 isolates of P. aeruginosa were collected from Teaching Laboratories in Baqubah General Teaching Hospital and Al-Batool Teaching Hospital, Iraq. The isolates were identified based on morphological and biochemical tests and confirmed by Vitek 2 system. The isolates varied in their antibiotic resistance towered ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, ticarcillin/clavulanic acid, meropenem, aztreonam, imipenem by 100%,100%,100%, 68.75%, 28.12%, and 18.75%, respectively. The biofilm formation test revealed that 43.75% of P. aeruginosa isolates were strongly biofilm forming, 46.8% moderate, and 6.25% were non-biofilm forming. All the tested isolates were able to produce pyocyanin with varied concentration ranged between 17 µg/ml (isolate P2) to 31.5 µg/ml (isolate P7). This study revealed the ability of the clinical P. aeruginosa to produce high amount of pyocyanin which could be used in many applications.