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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, October 2008, p. 3517-3522, Vol. 52, No. 10
0066-4804/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.00673-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Microbial Growth Inhibition by Alternating Electric Fields {triangledown}

Moshe Giladi,1 Yaara Porat,1 Alexandra Blatt,1 Yoram Wasserman,2 Eilon D. Kirson,2 Erez Dekel,3 and Yoram Palti2,4*

NovoBiotics Limited,1 NovoCure Limited, Matam Advanced Technology Centre, Haifa 31905,2 Weizmann Institute of Science, P.O. Box 26, Rehovot 76100,3 B. Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Technion City, Haifa 32000, Israel4

Received 22 May 2008/ Returned for modification 7 July 2008/ Accepted 20 July 2008

Weak electric currents generated using conductive electrodes have been shown to increase the efficacy of antibiotics against bacterial biofilms, a phenomenon termed "the bioelectric effect." The purposes of the present study were (i) to find out whether insulated electrodes that generate electric fields without "ohmic" electric currents, and thus are not associated with the formation of metal ions and free radicals, can inhibit the growth of planktonic bacteria and (ii) to define the parameters that are most effective against bacterial growth. The results obtained indicate that electric fields generated using insulated electrodes can inhibit the growth of planktonic Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and that the effect is amplitude and frequency dependent, with a maximum at 10 MHz. The combined effect of the electric field and chloramphenicol was found to be additive. Several possible mechanisms underlying the observed effect, as well as its potential clinical uses, are discussed.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: B. Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Technion City, Haifa 32000, Israel. Phone: 972-4-8500232. Fax: 972-4-8501207. E-mail: Yoram{at}Novo-cure.com

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 28 July 2008.

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, October 2008, p. 3517-3522, Vol. 52, No. 10
0066-4804/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AAC.00673-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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