Fig. 2: Attachment and stability of the bacterial colonizers as a function of the surface topography.
a In situ visualization of surface colonizers (at t0) on hydroxyapatite discs (HAD), overlapped with the surface topography (heightmap, left panel). Surface colonizers are shown in blue in the top view of a 3D representation of the bacterial cells on HAD (right panel). Z-axis (red line in right panel) represents a scale of 48 μm. Initial colonization of the surface consisted of single cells, clusters, and aggregates. b–d Topographical parameters average roughness (Sa), root-mean-square roughness (Sq), and skewness (Ssk) were determined at t0, and after the nutrient flow started in the chamber (flow). e–g Normalized histograms of Sa, Sq, and Ssk values. For non-colonized areas (n.c.a.), the parameters were calculated for the whole-scanned area and at different length scales (multiscale area selection—MAS; shown in a). The results represent a large population of bacterial surface colonizers (C > 800), captured from independent experiments (n = 3). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
