VBNCness vs. "dead" cells

[Robert Preston]

In article <19970124010100.UAA26287 at ladder01.news.aol.com>, enigl at aol.com wrote:

> 1.  Dead or injured (viable but not culturable (VBNC)?) layer of cells
[edits]
> 4.  Attachment cells,  sometimes VBNC?
> 
> In a water pipe line biofilm, the outer cells also seem to function like an
> epidermis or cap layer, in that those cells are dead and.....the dead outer 
> layers protect the rest from antimicrobials.

It seems risky to view "VBNC" cells in biofilms as dead or injured, unless 
there is some defined criterion for deadness or injury other than
non-culturability.
Is that the case, with the water pipeline biofilms mentioned above?  

--
Robert A. Preston, Ph.D.
Center for Genomic Sciences
Dept. of Pathology
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh PA
rapr at med.pitt.edu