[Non-destructive and rapid identification of bacteria using near-infrared spectroscopy]

Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy has recently come to be applied extensively in agricultural, food and chemical industries, and pharmaceutical science. We have been attempting to expand this method in the field of medical science. For example, we tried to use NIR spectroscopy for determination of bacteria. As the first step of this attempt, we differentiated between Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus using NIR spectroscopy. This method could still further differentiate Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA). Using those results as reference, the true name of bacteria from unknown bacteria was given. Not only untreated bacteria, but also we differentiated untreated MSSA, MSSA cultured in sub MIC concentration of ABPC and heat-killed MSSA. This identification method is sensitive to the bacterial concentration. In the future, the some new idea of a new direction of research from the result of plots of weights from two different bacteria will appear.