Influence of pH on yeast immobilization on polystyrene surfaces modified by energetic ion bombardment

Plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII) treatment is a novel method for immobilizing yeast on polymer surfaces by covalent linkage. This study of the immobilization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in both rehydrated and cultured forms showed that the density of cell attachment on PIII treated polystyrene (PS) was strongly dependent on the pH of the incubation medium and was higher for rehydrated yeast. A study of the surface charge was undertaken to explain this result. A high density of cell attachment occurs in acidic conditions (pH 3–5) and a significantly reduced cell density occurs in neutral and alkaline buffers (pH 6–10) for both types of yeast. Force measurements using atomic force microscopy show that a negative charge is present on polystyrene after PIII treatment. The charge is close to zero at pH 3 to pH 5 and increasingly negative from pH 6 to pH 10. Both rehydrated yeast and cultured yeast have negative electrophoretic mobility in the pH range studied. The repulsive forces are weak in acidic buffers and stronger in neutral and alkaline buffers, in good agreement with the cell densities observed. Rehydrated yeast cells are found to be more hydrophobic than cultured yeasts in the same buffer. The higher hydrophobicity explains the higher attachment of rehydrated yeast compared to cultured yeast.