School of Life Sciences, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.
Lett Appl Microbiol. 2010 Mar;50(3):289-94. doi: 10.1111/j.1472-765X.2009.02790.x. Epub 2009 Dec 16.
Electrochemically activated solutions (ECAS) are generated from halide salt solutions via specially designed electrolytic cells. The active solutions are known to possess high biocidal activity against a wide range of target microbial species, however, literature revealing the kill-kinetics of these solutions is limited. The aim of the study was to identify the kill-rate and extent of population kill for a range of target species (including endospores) using ECAS generated at the anode (anolyte).
Standard suspensions of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus atrophaeus spores and Clostridium difficile spores were treated with anolyte in a quantitative suspension assay. For vegetative cells, all concentrations of anolyte tested reduced the viable population to below the detection limit within 10 s. At a concentration of 99%, anolyte produced a log(10) reduction factor of greater than five in viable B. atrophaeus endospores within 90 s and reduced numbers of C. difficile endospores to below the experimental detection limit within 20 s at concentrations of 5% or greater.
Anolyte was highly effective in killing test-bacteria and spores. The bactericidal efficacy was retained against vegetative cells at dilutions as low as 1% and against C. difficile spores as low as 5%.
The results of this study demonstrate that ECAS are effective at lower concentrations and act more rapidly than previously reported. Potent bactericidal and sporicidal activity coupled with point-of-use generation, low production-costs and environmental compatibility suggest that acidic ECAS has the potential to be a useful addition to the current armoury of disinfectants.
电化学激活溶液（ECAS）是通过专门设计的电解槽从卤化物盐溶液中产生的。已知活性溶液对广泛的目标微生物物种具有高杀菌活性，但是，揭示这些溶液杀菌动力学的文献有限。本研究的目的是使用在阳极（阳极电解液）处生成的 ECAS 来确定一系列目标物种（包括芽孢）的杀灭率和种群杀灭程度。
用定量悬浮液测定法处理耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌、铜绿假单胞菌、萎缩芽孢杆菌孢子和艰难梭菌孢子的标准悬浮液。对于营养细胞，测试的所有阳极电解液浓度都在 10 秒内将存活的群体减少到检测限以下。在 99%的浓度下，阳极电解液在 90 秒内使有活力的 B. atrophaeus 芽孢的对数减少因子大于 5，在 5%或更高浓度下，将艰难梭菌芽孢的数量减少到实验检测限以下。
阳极电解液在杀灭试验细菌和孢子方面非常有效。在低至 1%的稀释度下对营养细胞仍具有杀菌功效，对艰难梭菌孢子的杀菌效果低至 5%。
本研究的结果表明，ECAS 在较低浓度下有效，作用速度比以前报道的更快。强大的杀菌和杀孢子活性加上就地生成、低生产成本和环境相容性表明，酸性 ECAS 有可能成为当前消毒剂库的有用补充。
