Aim: To evaluate the microbial disinfection efficacy of a plasmachemical solution obtained by the activation of water with gliding electric discharges.
Methods and Results: Distilled water was ...activated for 5 min by a nonthermal quenched plasma of the glidarc type operating in humid air and at atmospheric pressure. The plasma‐activated water (PAW) was then used to treat planktonic and adherent cells of Staphylococcus epidermidis, Leuconostoc mesenteroides (as models of Gram‐positive bacteria), Hafnia alvei (a Gram‐negative bacteria) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (as a yeast model). The treatments were less efficient on adherent cells than on planktonic cells in the case of bacteria, but not of S. cerevisiae. Inactivation was more effective for bacteria than for the yeast.
Conclusions: Significant reductions in microbial populations were achieved in all cases, demonstrating the effectiveness of this new approach to treat contaminated media.
Significance and Impact of the Study: PAW is a promising solution with potential application to the decontamination of equipment and surfaces.
•Ability of bacteria to adhere on agarose hydrogels.•Impact of stiffness of hydrogels on bacterial adhesion.•Modification of adhered bacteria phenotype following the stiffness of hydrogels.
The aim ...of this paper is to study the impact of the substrate stiffness on the bacterial adhesion. For this purpose, agarose hydrogels are used as substrates with controlled mechanical properties. Indeed, the elastic modulus of these hydrogels, more precisely the shear storage moduli G′, evolves with the agarose concentration (in this study from 0.75% to 3%). Other physico-chemical characteristics of the surface, known to be involved in bacterial adhesion, as hydrophobicity, were confirmed to remain constant. Two marine bacterial strains, a positive Gram Bacillus sp. 4J6 and a negative Gram Pseudoalteromonas sp. D41 were selected. Their retention on the substrates was analysed by confocal laser scanning microscopy and by counting of viable adhered bacteria. It was demonstrated that surface elastic modulus correlated with bacterial retention. Bacteria D41 adhered in higher numbers to rigid surfaces. For 4J6, bacterial adhesion patterns were changed: clusterings were observed on surfaces with lower elastic modulus. Furthermore, a proteomic study, based on the total soluble proteome of D41 strain, highlights an impact of elastic modulus on proteins synthesis. These data demonstrated an adapted response of adhering bacteria on hydrogels of varying mechanical properties.
Aims: To determine the efficiency of an electric discharge of the gliding arc type for the destruction of Staphylococcus epidermidis planktonic, adherent and biofilm cells.
Methods and Results: ...Bacterial cells were treated in humid air and at atmospheric pressure by a nonthermal quenched plasma of the glidarc type. The kinetics of destruction (followed by plating) were modelled by an Add‐inn for Microsoft® Excel, GInaFiT. For planktonic cells, log‐linear destruction was obtained, whereas biphasic kinetics were observed for sessile cells. An increased resistance of biofilm cells was observed: the reduction of 6 logarithm units of the population was obtained in 15, 30 and 70 min for planktonic, adherent and biofilm cells, respectively. The experiments also show that the cells destruction did not depend on the adhesion surface but was governed by the gap between the target and the plasma source.
Conclusion: The complete destruction of planktonic, adherent and more resistant biofilm cells of Staph. epidermidis is achieved by a glidarc air plasma at atmospheric pressure.
Significance and Impact of the Study: The glidarc plasma technology is a promising candidate among the emerging nonthermal techniques for decontamination, as it can destroy even biofilms that are known as particularly resistant to various antimicrobials.
Correlation between microbial surface thermodynamics using the extended DLVO (XDLVO) theory and kinetic adhesion of various bacterial cells to sand was investigated. Two experimental setups were ...utilized. Adhesion tests were conducted in batch reactors with slow agitation. Also, bacteria were circulated through small sand columns in a closed loop and the results were analyzed with a simple model which accounted for the rate of the adhesion phenomena (
ω in h
−1) and adhesion percentage. Cells surface properties were derived from contact angle measurements. The wicking method was utilized to characterize the sand. Zeta potentials were measured for the sand and the cells. Kinetic of bacterial retention by the porous media was largely influenced by the electrostatic interactions which are correlated with
ω from the model (
R
2
=
0.71). Negative zeta potentials resulted in electrostatic repulsions occurring between the sand and the bacterial cells which in result delayed bacterial adhesion. While no correlation was found between the adhesion percentage and the total interaction energy calculated with the XDLVO theory the respective behavior of hydrophobic and hydrophilic bacteria as well as the importance of electrostatic interactions was evidenced. All the bacterial strains studied adhered more in the column experiments than in the adhesion tests, presumably due to enhanced collision efficiency and wedging in porous media, while filtration could be ignored except for the larger
Bacillus strains. Approximate XDLVO calculations due to solid surface nanoscale roughness, retention in a secondary minimum and population heterogeneity are discussed. Our results obtained with a large variety of different physicochemical bacterial strains highlights the influence of both surface thermodynamics and porous media related effects as well as the limits of using the XDLVO theory for evaluating bacterial retention through porous media.
To evaluate the impact of the mode of contamination in relation with the nature of solid substrates on the resistance of spores of Bacillus atrophaeus -selected as surrogates of Bacillus anthracis- ...to a disinfectant, peracetic acid. Six materials confronted in urban and military environments were selected for their different structural and physicochemical properties. In parallel, two modes of contamination were examined, i.e. deposition and immersion. Deposition was used to simulate contamination by an aerosol and immersion by an extended contact with liquids. A pronounced difference in the biocontamination levels and spatial organization of spores was observed depending on the mode of contamination and the nature of the solid substrate considered, with consequences on decontamination. Contamination by immersion led to lower efficiency of peracetic acid decontamination than contamination by deposition. Infiltration of spores into porous materials after immersion is one reason. In contrast, the deposition mode aggregates cells at the surface of materials, explaining the similar disinfecting behaviour of porous and nonporous substrates when considering this inoculation route. The inoculation route was shown to be as influential a parameter as material characteristics (porosity and wettability) for decontamination efficacy. These results provide comparative information for the decontamination of B. atrophaeus spores in function of the mode of contamination and the nature of solid substrates.
A large number of studies have shown the influence of the physico-chemical properties of a surface on microbial adhesion phenomenon. In this study, we considered that the presence of a bacterial ...biofilm may be regarded as a “conditioning film” that may modify the physico-chemical characteristics of the support, and thus the adhesion capability of planktonic micro-organisms coming into contact with this substratum. In this context, we adapted a protocol for biofilm formation that allows, under our experimental conditions, contact angle measurements, the reference method to determine the energetic surface properties of a substratum. This made it possible to determine the van der Waals, electron acceptor and electron donor properties of static biofilms grown at 25°C on stainless-steel slides with six Gram-positive bacteria isolated in dairy plants. A variance analysis indicated significant effects (
P<0.05) of the bacterial strains and of the physiological state of the micro-organisms (planktonic or sessile) on the contact angles. To link the energetic properties of the six biofilms with direct adhesion experiments, we measured the affinity of fluorescent carboxylate-modified polystyrene beads for the different biofilm surfaces. The results correlated best with the electron-acceptor components of the biofilm surface energies, stressing the importance of Lewis acid–base interactions in adhesion mechanisms.
Immobilisation of rabbit immunoglobulin G (rIgG) was performed by affinity binding to protein A (PrA) covalently bound to three different thiolate self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), (i) a mixed SAM of ...mercaptoundecanoic acid (MUA) and mercaptohexanol (C6OH) at a molar ratio of 1–3, (ii) a pure SAM of MUA and (iii) a pure SAM of cystamine (CA). A comparative study of anti-rIgG recognition process on these three surfaces was achieved in order to assess the influence of the attachment layer topography and composition upon the sensor quality. Functionalised gold-coated surfaces were characterised by three complementary analytical techniques, namely atomic force microscopy (AFM), polarization modulation–reflection-adsorption infrared spectroscopy (PM-RAIRS) and quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). PM-RAIRS and AFM revealed that the three SAMs were formed on the gold surfaces. AFM observations made it clear that the thiolate and PrA layers were rather homogeneous in the case of pure MUA and CA SAMs, as compared to the MUA/C6OH mixed SAM on which PrA aggregates were observed. Though the highest amount of antibody was bound to the PrA on CA layer, higher anti-rIgG over IgG ratios were measured on the less dense layers of antibody.
It was shown in the literature that ethanol locks have a positive effect on preventing catheter-related infections in patients with central venous catheters without causing any microbial resistance. ...However, ethanol is known to interact with polyurethanes. The consequences of this interaction on the catheter surface properties were studied as it can impact the biocompatibility of the material and the adhesion phenomena onto the surface. No physical and chemical degradation was put into evidence, but low molecular weight compounds such as additives were extracted from the catheter bulk or migrated and exudated onto its surface. Nevertheless, as far as bacterial adhesion is concerned, after the catheter was locked and the lock removed, the surface modifications promoted no adhesion.
PDF
