Paulitsch-Fuchs Astrid H, Zsohár Andrea, Wexler Adam D, Zauner Andrea, Kittinger Clemens, de Valença Joeri, Fuchs Elmar C
Wetsus, European Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water Technology, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands.
Institute of Hygiene, Microbiology and Environmental Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria.
Biochem Biophys Rep. 2017 Apr 28;10:287-296. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrep.2017.04.015. eCollection 2017 Jul.
An aqueous electrohydrodynamic (EHD) floating liquid bridge is a unique environment for studying the influence of protonic currents (mA cm) in strong DC electric fields (kV cm) on the behavior of microorganisms. It forms in between two beakers filled with water when high-voltage is applied to these beakers. We recently discovered that exposure to this bridge has a stimulating effect on . In this work we show that the survival is due to a natural Faraday cage effect of the cell wall of these microorganisms using a simple 2D model. We further confirm this hypothesis by measuring and simulating the behavior of , and THP-1 monocytes. Their behavior matches the predictions of the model: cells without a natural Faraday cage like algae and monocytes are mostly killed and weakened, whereas yeast and survive. The effect of the natural Faraday cage is twofold: First, it diverts the current from passing through the cell (and thereby killing it); secondly, because it is protonic it maintains the osmotic pressure in the cell wall, thereby mitigating cytolysis which would normally occur due to the low osmotic pressure of the surrounding medium. The method presented provides the basis for selective disinfection of solutions containing different microorganisms.
水性电液动力学（EHD）浮液桥是研究强直流电场（千伏/厘米）中质子电流（毫安/厘米）对微生物行为影响的独特环境。当对两个装有水的烧杯施加高压时，它会在这两个烧杯之间形成。我们最近发现，暴露于这种浮液桥对……有刺激作用。在这项工作中，我们使用一个简单的二维模型表明，微生物的存活归因于其细胞壁的天然法拉第笼效应。我们通过测量和模拟……、……以及THP - 1单核细胞的行为进一步证实了这一假设。它们的行为与模型预测相符：像藻类和单核细胞这样没有天然法拉第笼的细胞大多被杀死或衰弱，而酵母和……存活下来。天然法拉第笼的作用有两方面：第一，它使电流不通过细胞（从而杀死细胞）；其次，由于它是质子性的，它维持了细胞壁中的渗透压，从而减轻了通常会因周围介质的低渗透压而发生的细胞溶解。所提出的方法为含有不同微生物的溶液的选择性消毒提供了基础。
