Zeiger Marco, Solioz Marc, Edongué Hervais, Arzt Eduard, Schneider Andreas S
INM - Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Campus D2 2, 66123, Saarbrücken, Germany.
Microbiologyopen. 2014 Jun;3(3):327-32. doi: 10.1002/mbo3.170. Epub 2014 Apr 17.
Copper kills bacteria rapidly by a mechanism that is not yet fully resolved. The antibacterial property of copper has raised interest in its use in hospitals, in place of plastic or stainless steel. On the latter surfaces, bacteria can survive for days or even weeks. Copper surfaces could thus provide a powerful accessory measure to curb nosocomial infections. We here investigated the effect of the copper surface structure on the efficiency of contact killing of Escherichia coli, an aspect which so far has received very little attention. It was shown that electroplated copper surfaces killed bacteria more rapidly than either polished copper or native rolled copper. The release of ionic copper was also more rapid from electroplated copper compared to the other materials. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the bacteria nudged into the grooves between the copper grains of deposited copper. The findings suggest that, in terms of contact killing, more efficient copper surfaces can be engineered.
铜通过一种尚未完全明确的机制迅速杀死细菌。铜的抗菌特性引发了人们对其在医院替代塑料或不锈钢使用的兴趣。在塑料或不锈钢表面，细菌能够存活数天甚至数周。因此，铜表面可为控制医院感染提供一项有力的辅助措施。我们在此研究了铜表面结构对大肠杆菌接触杀灭效率的影响，这一方面迄今为止极少受到关注。结果表明，电镀铜表面比抛光铜或原始轧制铜杀灭细菌的速度更快。与其他材料相比，电镀铜释放离子铜的速度也更快。扫描电子显微镜显示，细菌被挤入沉积铜的铜晶粒之间的凹槽中。这些发现表明，就接触杀灭而言，可以设计出更高效的铜表面。
