Performance of time-lapsed turbidimetry and agar plating as bacterial quantification methods

Accurate bacterial quantification is crucial for studying microbial pathogenesis, host-pathogen interactions, and therapeutic interventions. Two widely used methods include agar plating with colony-forming unit (CFU) enumeration and time-lapsed turbidimetry in liquid broth culture. While agar plating remains the gold standard in both in vitro and in vivo infection models, liquid broth turbidimetry is commonly used to assess growth kinetics, microbial fitness, antibiotic susceptibility, and bacterial genetics. While strain-specific CFU and turbidimetry (OD) calibration studies exist, a comprehensive and systematic comparison of these methods for quantifying a broad array of clinically relevant pathogens remains largely unexplored. Here, we conducted a head-to-head comparison of agar plating and liquid broth turbidimetry to quantify the growth of Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus in vitro and evaluated their performance in vivo using a murine model of K. pneumoniae pulmonary infection. Across all pathogens tested, both methods exhibited strong correlation over a broad dynamic range (6-7 log₁₀ dilutions). Liquid broth turbidimetry demonstrated enhanced sensitivity at low bacterial densities, as well as greater precision. In the in vivo murine pneumonia model, this method more accurately distinguished bacterial burdens at the site of infection (lung) and dissemination (spleen) between wild-type and Toll-like receptor 4 knockout mice. Overall, liquid broth turbidimetry is a reliable alternative to agar plating with a high degree of correlation for bacterial quantification and improved precision, highlighting its potential utility in studies of bacteriology and infectious diseases.

Accurate bacterial quantification is fundamental to microbiology research and clinical diagnostics. While agar plating is a widely used method, our study demonstrates that liquid broth turbidimetry provides accurate bacterial quantification, which is fundamental to microbiology research and clinical diagnostics. While agar plating is a widely used method, our study demonstrates that liquid broth turbidimetry provides a highly correlative and more precise approach for quantifying diverse, clinically relevant bacterial pathogens, including when dealing with low bacterial density. The enhanced sensitivity and precision may be valuable for early infection detection, monitoring treatment efficacy, and understanding microbial dynamics in research settings where accurate quantification of even low-density organisms is essential. The findings support considering liquid broth turbidimetry as a complementary or alternative method for bacterial growth quantification.