Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria differ in their sensitivity to cold plasma

Cold atmospheric-pressure plasma (CAP) is a relatively new method being investigated for antimicrobial activity. However, the exact mode of action is still being explored. Here we report that CAP efficacy is directly correlated to bacterial cell wall thickness in several species. Biofilms of Gram po...

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Main Authors:	Mai-Prochnow, Anne, Clauson, Maryse, Hong, Jungmi, Murphy, Anthony B.
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Nature Publishing Group 2016
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5146927/

id	pubmed-5146927
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-51469272016-12-16 Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria differ in their sensitivity to cold plasma Mai-Prochnow, Anne Clauson, Maryse Hong, Jungmi Murphy, Anthony B. Article Cold atmospheric-pressure plasma (CAP) is a relatively new method being investigated for antimicrobial activity. However, the exact mode of action is still being explored. Here we report that CAP efficacy is directly correlated to bacterial cell wall thickness in several species. Biofilms of Gram positive Bacillus subtilis, possessing a 55.4 nm cell wall, showed the highest resistance to CAP, with less than one log10 reduction after 10 min treatment. In contrast, biofilms of Gram negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa, possessing only a 2.4 nm cell wall, were almost completely eradicated using the same treatment conditions. Planktonic cultures of Gram negative Pseudomonas libanensis also had a higher log10 reduction than Gram positive Staphylococcus epidermidis. Mixed species biofilms of P. aeruginosa and S. epidermidis showed a similar trend of Gram positive bacteria being more resistant to CAP treatment. However, when grown in co-culture, Gram negative P. aeruginosa was more resistant to CAP overall than as a mono-species biofilm. Emission spectra indicated OH and O, capable of structural cell wall bond breakage, were present in the plasma. This study indicates that cell wall thickness correlates with CAP inactivation times of bacteria, but cell membranes and biofilm matrix are also likely to play a role. Nature Publishing Group 2016-12-09 /pmc/articles/PMC5146927/ /pubmed/27934958 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep38610 Text en Copyright © 2016, The Author(s) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Mai-Prochnow, Anne Clauson, Maryse Hong, Jungmi Murphy, Anthony B.
spellingShingle	Mai-Prochnow, Anne Clauson, Maryse Hong, Jungmi Murphy, Anthony B. Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria differ in their sensitivity to cold plasma
author_facet	Mai-Prochnow, Anne Clauson, Maryse Hong, Jungmi Murphy, Anthony B.
author_sort	Mai-Prochnow, Anne
title	Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria differ in their sensitivity to cold plasma
title_short	Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria differ in their sensitivity to cold plasma
title_full	Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria differ in their sensitivity to cold plasma
title_fullStr	Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria differ in their sensitivity to cold plasma
title_full_unstemmed	Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria differ in their sensitivity to cold plasma
title_sort	gram positive and gram negative bacteria differ in their sensitivity to cold plasma
description	Cold atmospheric-pressure plasma (CAP) is a relatively new method being investigated for antimicrobial activity. However, the exact mode of action is still being explored. Here we report that CAP efficacy is directly correlated to bacterial cell wall thickness in several species. Biofilms of Gram positive Bacillus subtilis, possessing a 55.4 nm cell wall, showed the highest resistance to CAP, with less than one log10 reduction after 10 min treatment. In contrast, biofilms of Gram negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa, possessing only a 2.4 nm cell wall, were almost completely eradicated using the same treatment conditions. Planktonic cultures of Gram negative Pseudomonas libanensis also had a higher log10 reduction than Gram positive Staphylococcus epidermidis. Mixed species biofilms of P. aeruginosa and S. epidermidis showed a similar trend of Gram positive bacteria being more resistant to CAP treatment. However, when grown in co-culture, Gram negative P. aeruginosa was more resistant to CAP overall than as a mono-species biofilm. Emission spectra indicated OH and O, capable of structural cell wall bond breakage, were present in the plasma. This study indicates that cell wall thickness correlates with CAP inactivation times of bacteria, but cell membranes and biofilm matrix are also likely to play a role.
publisher	Nature Publishing Group
publishDate	2016
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5146927/
_version_	1613769065195634688

Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria differ in their sensitivity to cold plasma

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