Electrochemical Detection of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in Polymicrobial Environments

Abstract A major cause of hospital‐acquired infections is Pseudomonas aeruginosa , a gram‐negative bacterial pathogen. This bacterium secretes a unique, redox‐active molecule known as pyocyanin that can serve as a useful biomarker for identification and detection of this opportunistic pathogen. This current study investigates the impact to pyocyanin production and ability to electrochemically distinguish pyocyanin when P. aeruginosa is co‐cultured with other bacterial pathogens. To accomplish this, P. aeruginosa was co‐cultured with up to four different clinically‐relevant bacteria typically found in a wound infection. P. aeruginosa ’s production of pyocyanin was electrochemically monitored over a three day period and the results demonstrated that pyocyanin can be readily measured and that there were no observed enhancements or inhibitory effects to the production of pyocyanin. This information is valuable in the development of this sensing platform for clinical point‐of‐care diagnostics, where polymicrobial growth at the site of infection is common.