Effects of tetrazolium chloride concentration, O2, and cell age on dehydrogenase activity of Aspergillus niger

The effects of triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (TTC) concentration, cell age, and presence of O2 on the dehydrogenase activity of Aspergillus niger as measured by triphenyl formazan (TF) yield were investigated. The results indicated that increasing TTC concentration initially increased the TF yield and then decreased it. The maximum TF yield was observed at a TTC concentration of 30 g/L for young cells (4 d old) and 20 g/L for old cells (12 d old). Conducting the test under anaerobic conditions increased the TF yield. About 18% of the TF produced was converted back into TTC in the presence of oxygen. The relationship between dehydrogenase activity of A. niger (as measured by TF yield) and cell mass was found to be linear. A kinetic model describing the relationship between reaction rate (micromoles of TF formed per hour) and TTC concentration while accounting for substrate inhibition was developed, and the model constants were calculated. The optimum TTCtest conditions for dehydrogenase activity measurement of A. niger were a TTC concentration of 20 g/L, a pH of 9.0, a temperature of 55 degrees C, an incubation time of 3 h, and anaerobic conditions.