Image Low pH Values
July 21, 2015Scientists in biology, botany or medicine now have a wider range of pH values that can be visualized two-dimensionally as a new sensor foil for VisiSens A2 allows measurements between pH 2.5 and 4.5 as well.
The PreSens Precision Sensing GmbH now offers for its 2D imaging system VisiSens A2 pH sensor foils for different pH ranges: pH 5.5 - 7.5 and pH 2.5 - 4.5. The lower measuring range is especially helpful while working with biofilm forming microorganisms, as they can reach a low pH value of 3.0 and keep this level. Unlike other microorganisms, they are tolerant towards low pH values and have - quite often - an antibiotic resistance. This again is quite relevant for a variety of different applications: dental medicine (carious or paradontitis), medicine (affects on implants), biofouling or wastewater treatment in biofilm reactors. A further application field is the segmentation of marshland based on the nutrient content. Necessary to that end is the pH value as so called "transition indicator" between specific types of marshland.
But how does the pH imaging work? The fluorescent chemical optical sensor foils combined with the VisiSens A2 allow easy 2D visualization of pH distributions in heterogeneous samples. For measurement the sample surface is covered with the sensor film, which translates the analyte content into a light signal. The sensor response is recorded pixel by pixel with a digital camera. Therefore, spatial and temporal changes of pH can be monitored.
PreSens offers its customers this non-invasive mapping of metabolic activities of living samples not only for pH measurements, but also for oxygen and CO2. The fact that this portable device can be applied in the laboratory as well as out in the field and that changing experiment conditions during measurements is possible makes VisiSens a reliable auxiliary tool for scientists - no matter what research acitivities they pursue.
