Center for Atomic and Molecular Technologies, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan
Center for Atomic and Molecular Technologies, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan.
Appl Environ Microbiol. 2021 Jan 4;87(2). doi: 10.1128/AEM.01860-20.
Low-temperature atmospheric-pressure plasma has been studied for disinfection purposes. When plasma is exposed to water, reactive oxygen and nitrogen species are generated and preserved in the water fraction (plasma-treated water [PTW]), which consequently exhibits bactericidal activity. At low temperatures, one of the bactericidal components of PTW is peroxynitric acid (PNA). Importantly, PNA can also be synthesized by chemical reaction, without exposure to plasma. In this study, we evaluated the bactericidal properties of PNA based on reaction kinetics in comparison with other disinfectants. The analysis, based on dose-dependent effects, showed that PNA exhibited about 1 and 10 times the bactericidal activity of hypochlorous acid (HOCl) and peracetic acid, respectively. In addition, we evaluated the influence of organic contaminants on the bactericidal effects of PNA and HOCl. The bactericidal potential of both disinfectants was reduced by bovine serum albumin (BSA); however, PNA showed about 30-times-higher resistance against BSA inhibition than HOCl. Analysis of the dose-dependent effects of PNA revealed that the inhibition of bactericidal effect was caused by its consumption. Further experiments using model substrates containing particular amino acid residues (Met, Cys, Lys, and Leu) suggested that the bacterial inactivation by PNA is less affected by BSA due to the low reactivity and narrow reactivity spectrum of PNA for amino acid residues. Overall, our results suggest that PNA has a great disinfection potential, especially in the presence of organic contaminants (e.g., on the surface of the human body and on medical instruments contaminated with biological fluids). A good disinfectant for the human body should have various properties, such as strong bactericidal activity, harmlessness to living tissues, and resistance against biological fluids (or other organic contaminants). Peroxynitric acid (PNA) showed a bactericidal effect that was several tens up to several hundred times higher per unit of molarity than that of sodium hypochlorite and peracetic acid, which are used as general disinfectants for medical equipment. Moreover, the high resistance of PNA to organic load was confirmed, indicating that PNA will inactivate bacteria effectively even on contaminated surfaces, such as used medical devices or the human body surface. Therefore, we propose that PNA can be used as a strong disinfectant for the human body.
低温常压等离子体已被研究用于消毒目的。当等离子体暴露于水中时,会产生活性氧和氮物种,并保留在水相(等离子体处理水 [PTW])中,从而表现出杀菌活性。在低温下,PTW 的一种杀菌成分是过亚硝酸(PNA)。重要的是,PNA 也可以通过化学反应合成,而无需暴露于等离子体。在这项研究中,我们根据反应动力学评估了基于 PNA 的杀菌特性,并与其他消毒剂进行了比较。基于剂量依赖性效应的分析表明,PNA 的杀菌活性分别约为次氯酸(HOCl)和过氧乙酸的 1 倍和 10 倍。此外,我们评估了有机污染物对 PNA 和 HOCl 杀菌效果的影响。两种消毒剂的杀菌潜力均被牛血清白蛋白(BSA)降低;然而,PNA 对 BSA 抑制的抵抗力约是 HOCl 的 30 倍。对 PNA 剂量依赖性效应的分析表明,杀菌效果的抑制是由于其消耗所致。使用含有特定氨基酸残基(Met、Cys、Lys 和 Leu)的模型底物的进一步实验表明,由于 PNA 对氨基酸残基的低反应性和窄反应谱,PNA 引起的细菌失活受 BSA 的影响较小。总体而言,我们的结果表明 PNA 具有很大的消毒潜力,特别是在存在有机污染物的情况下(例如,在人体表面和被生物体液污染的医疗器械上)。一种对人体安全的好消毒剂应具有各种特性,例如强杀菌活性、对活组织无害以及对生物体液(或其他有机污染物)的抵抗力。过亚硝酸(PNA)的杀菌效果是次氯酸钠和过氧乙酸的几十倍到几百倍,这两种消毒剂都被用作医疗器械的一般消毒剂。此外,还证实了 PNA 对有机负荷的高抵抗力,表明即使在污染表面(例如使用过的医疗器械或人体表面)上,PNA 也能有效灭活细菌。因此,我们提出 PNA 可用作人体的强力消毒剂。