Tsai Hsin-Yi, Lin Yu-Hsuan, Huang Kuo-Cheng, Yang Ching-Ching, Chou Chun-Han, Chao Liang-Chieh
Taiwan Instrument Research Institute, National Applied Research Laboratories, Hsinchu 300092, Taiwan.
Micromachines (Basel). 2023 Jan 21;14(2):282. doi: 10.3390/mi14020282.
Viruses and bacteria, which can rapidly spread through droplets and saliva, can have serious effects on people's health. Viral activity is traditionally inhibited using chemical substances, such as alcohol or bleach, or physical methods, such as thermal energy or ultraviolet-light irradiation. However, such methods cannot be used in many applications because they have certain disadvantages, such as causing eye or skin injuries. Therefore, in the present study, the electrical stimulation method is used to stimulate a virus, namely, coronavirus 229E, and two types of bacteria, namely, and , to efficiently reduce their infectivity of healthy cells (such as the Vero E6 cell in a viral activity-inhibition experiment). The infectivity effects of the aforementioned virus and bacteria were examined under varying values of different electrical stimulation parameters, such as the stimulation current, frequency, and total stimulation time. The experimental results indicate that the activity of coronavirus 229E is considerably inhibited through direct-current pulse stimulation with a current of 25 mA and a frequency of 2 or 20 Hz. In addition, activity was reduced by nearly 80% in 10 s through alternating-current pulse stimulation with a current of 50 mA and a frequency of 25 Hz. Moreover, a self-powered electrical stimulation device was constructed in this study. This device consists of a solar panel and battery to generate small currents with variable frequencies, which has advantages of self-powered and variable frequencies, and the device can be utilized on desks, chairs, or elevator buttons for the inhibition of viral and bacterial activities.
病毒和细菌可通过飞沫和唾液迅速传播，会对人们的健康产生严重影响。传统上，病毒活性是通过使用化学物质（如酒精或漂白剂）或物理方法（如热能或紫外线照射）来抑制的。然而，这些方法在许多应用中无法使用，因为它们有某些缺点，比如会导致眼睛或皮肤受伤。因此，在本研究中，采用电刺激方法来刺激一种病毒，即229E冠状病毒，以及两种细菌，即 和 ，以有效降低它们对健康细胞（如病毒活性抑制实验中的Vero E6细胞）的感染力。在不同电刺激参数（如刺激电流、频率和总刺激时间）的不同取值下，检测了上述病毒和细菌的感染效果。实验结果表明，通过25 mA电流和2或20 Hz频率的直流脉冲刺激，229E冠状病毒的活性受到显著抑制。此外，通过50 mA电流和25 Hz频率的交流脉冲刺激， 在10秒内活性降低了近80%。此外，本研究构建了一种自供电电刺激装置。该装置由太阳能板和电池组成，可产生频率可变的小电流，具有自供电和频率可变的优点，该装置可用于桌子、椅子或电梯按钮上以抑制病毒和细菌活性。
