Differences of Bactericidal Efficacy on Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus subtilis of Slightly and Strongly Acidic Electrolyzed Water

Abstract

In the present study, the disinfection efficacy of slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW) and strongly acidic electrolyzed water (AEW) was tested on three bacteria, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus subtilis and the disinfection mechanism was discussed. The results showed that SAEW had a stronger antibacterial efficacy against these tested bacteria in comparison with AEW. The results also showed that both SAEW and AEW treatments could damage the cell membrane, which was demonstrated microcosmically by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thus causing leakages of protein, DNA, RNA, and ATP, resulting in the death of microbes. Moreover, AEW treatment could not cause the degradations of DNA and RNA, and nucleic acids including DNA and RNA are not the target point of its bactericidal efficacy. However, SAEW could maybe cause the degradation of RNA, and RNA may be the target in its antibacterial activity. We suggested that the differences in antibacterial efficacy between SAEW and AEW could be explained by the different impacts on RNA of tested strains.