Improvement of chlorination and sterilization of pathogenic bacteria by natural products

Abstract

There are many highly resistant pathogenic bacteria in the environment that cannot be removed by conventional chlorination disinfection. This study demonstrated a combined sterilization strategy for combating the extension of pathogenic bacteria by enhancing the bactericidal ability of sodium hypochlorite at subinhibitory concentrations with the utilization of the natural antimicrobial molecule cinnamaldehyde. The results indicated that treatment of cinnamaldehyde enhances the effect of chlorination disinfection, leading to an increase in concentration-dependent inactivation efficiency from 33.5 to 86.1%. Our results also proved that the combined sterilization strategy showed an inhibitory and destructive effect on the hazardous biofilm formed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Additionally, the cell membrane permeability and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels were 1.8-fold and 2.3-fold increased compared with the controls, respectively, which revealed the synergistic effect and hypothetical mechanisms of natural antimicrobial products treatment to chlorination disinfection. This study provides further research for the control of drug-resistant bacteria in water treatment systems and contributes to combating the growing threat of antibiotic resistance.