Gião M S, Wilks S A, Keevil C W
Environmental Healthcare Unit, Centre for Biological Sciences, Life Sciences Building, Highfield Campus, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK,
Biometals. 2015 Apr;28(2):329-39. doi: 10.1007/s10534-015-9835-y. Epub 2015 Feb 17.
Legionella pneumophila is a waterborne pathogen that can cause Legionnaires' disease, a fatal pneumonia, or Pontiac fever, a mild form of disease. Copper is an antimicrobial material used for thousands of years. Its incorporation in several surface materials to control the transmission of pathogens has been gaining importance in the past decade. In this work, the ability of copper to control the survival of L. pneumophila in biofilms was studied. For that, the incorporation of L. pneumophila in polymicrobial drinking water biofilms formed on copper, PVC and PEX, and L. pneumophila mono-species biofilms formed on copper and uPVC were studied by comparing cultivable and total numbers (quantified by peptide nucleic acid (PNA) hybridisation). L. pneumophila was never recovered by culture from heterotrophic biofilms; however, PNA-positive numbers were slightly higher in biofilms formed on copper (5.9 × 10(5) cells cm(-2)) than on PVC (2.8 × 10(5) cells cm(-2)) and PEX (1.7 × 10(5) cells cm(-2)). L. pneumophila mono-species biofilms grown on copper gave 6.9 × 10(5) cells cm(-2) for PNA-positive cells and 4.8 × 10(5) CFU cm(-2) for cultivable numbers, showing that copper is not directly effective in killing L. pneumophila. Therefore previous published studies showing inactivation of L. pneumophila by copper surfaces in potable water polymicrobial species biofilms must be carefully interpreted.
嗜肺军团菌是一种通过水传播的病原体，可引发军团病（一种致命的肺炎）或庞蒂亚克热（一种症状较轻的疾病）。铜是一种已使用数千年的抗菌材料。在过去十年中，将铜掺入多种表面材料以控制病原体传播变得越来越重要。在这项研究中，研究了铜控制嗜肺军团菌在生物膜中存活的能力。为此，通过比较可培养数量和总数（通过肽核酸（PNA）杂交定量），研究了嗜肺军团菌在铜、聚氯乙烯（PVC）和交联聚乙烯（PEX）上形成的多微生物饮用水生物膜中的掺入情况，以及在铜和未增塑聚氯乙烯（uPVC）上形成的嗜肺军团菌单物种生物膜。从异养生物膜中培养从未回收过嗜肺军团菌；然而，在铜表面形成的生物膜中PNA阳性数量（5.9×10⁵ 个细胞/cm²）略高于在PVC（2.8×10⁵ 个细胞/cm²）和PEX（1.7×10⁵ 个细胞/cm²）上形成的生物膜。在铜上生长的嗜肺军团菌单物种生物膜中，PNA阳性细胞为6.9×10⁵ 个细胞/cm²，可培养数量为4.8×10⁵ CFU/cm²，这表明铜对杀死嗜肺军团菌没有直接效果。因此，先前发表的关于饮用水多微生物物种生物膜中铜表面使嗜肺军团菌失活的研究必须谨慎解读。
