Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 25, 2025

12:22
Biomimetic Materials to Characterize Bacteria-host Interactions
Published on: November 16, 2015
9.4K
Bacterial Binding, Phagocytosis, and Killing Capacity: Measurements Using Colony Forming Units
Kyle E Novakowski1, Dessi Loukov1, Dawn M E Bowdish2
1Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Methods in Molecular Biology (Clifton, N.J.)
|June 26, 2023
Abstract:
Herein, we provide a colony forming unit (CFU)-based counting method for quantitating the bacterial binding, phagocytosis, and killing capacity of phagocytes. Although these functions can be measured by immunofluorescence- and dye-based assays, quantitating CFUs are comparatively inexpensive and easy to perform. The protocol described below is easily modified for use with different phagocytes (e.g., macrophages, neutrophils, cell lines), types of bacteria, or opsonic conditions.

