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Biocidal Mechanisms of Metallic Copper Surfaces

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Use of Biocidal Surfaces for Reduction of Healthcare Acquired Infections

Abstract

Hospital acquired infections (HAI), also known as nosocomial infections, have a vast impact on patient and staff health and affect survival chances of patients with compromised immune system, elderly, and young children. Moreover, hospital environments are favoring the development of drug-resistant strains of bacteria, making treatment of such HAI more challenging. The Center of Disease Control estimates that one of the deadliest types of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), causes 19,000 death cases per year, whereas another superbug, Clostridium difficile, causes 500,000 incidents per year.

The natural medicinal and sanitizing properties of copper and its minerals were used throughout the ages by many civilizations. However, only recently have we started understanding the mechanisms of such bactericidal effects of copper. One of the latest research developments in this area is concerned with showing that metallic copper surfaces strongly reduce microbial surface-burden, both in laboratory settings and healthcare environments. Microbiologists and hygiene specialists are increasingly recognizing this unique antimicrobial property of metallic copper as a very promising novel tool for reducing HAI, which are known to spread through touching contaminated surfaces. Copper surfaces have universal microbe-inactivating properties against a wide variety of Gram-positive and Gram-negative microbes under moist (droplets of cell suspensions, mimicking splash-contamination) or dry (direct contact between cells and surfaces, mimicking touch surfaces) conditions.

This chapter reviews the molecular mechanisms underlying bactericidal properties of solid copper surfaces and factors that influence such processes: copper surface oxidation and corrosion, copper cell accumulation, copper alloy content and roughness, temperature, moisture, presence of chelators, osmotic stress, reactive oxygen species, cellular characteristics, cell wall structure, spores, genetic traits for copper resistance systems, anaerobiosis, viable but not culturable state (VBNC). Additionally, primary targets for metallic copper toxicity, DNA and lipids, are also included in discussion in this chapter.

Our understanding of the antimicrobial properties of metallic copper surfaces have made great strides in the last 5 years both under laboratories and healthcare conditions, highlighting safe, economical and sustainable application of metallic copper surfaces in hospital or any public settings for prevention of HAI.

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Abbreviations

BCS:

Bathocuproine disulfonate

BTA:

Benzotriazole

C=C–C• :

Allylic radicals

CFU:

Colony forming units

ComC:

Copper-induced outer membrane component

ComR:

Copper-induced repressor

CopA:

Copper exporter P-type ATPase

CopB:

Cytoplasmic copper and delivers it to the P1B-type ATPase

CopY:

Copper-responsive repressor

CopZ:

Cytoplasmic copper binding chaperone

CueP:

Periplasmic copper binding protein

CueR:

Copper response cytoplasmic MerR-family activator/repressor

CusCFBA:

Copper/Silver transporting efflux system

CusRS:

Periplasmic copper two-component system sensor

CycA:

d-cycloserine uptake permease

DNA:

Deoxyribonucleic acid

EDTA:

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid

FabR:

Repressor for unsaturated fatty acids biosynthesis

FAME:

Fatty acid methyl esters

GSH:

Glutathione

GSSG:

Glutathione disulfide

HAI:

Healthcare-acquired infections

ICP-MS:

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

L:

Lipid

L• :

Lipid radical

LO• :

Lipid alkoyl radicals

LOO• :

Peroxyl radical

MDA:

Malondialdehyde

MerR:

Mercury resistance repressor

Pco:

Plasmid-borne copper resistance

PMF:

Proton motive force

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

TBARS:

Thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances

TetR:

Tetracycline repressor protein

Tris:

Tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane

VBNC:

Viable-But-Not-Culturable

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IMAR – Instituto do Mar, Universidade de Coimbra, 3000, Coimbra, Portugal

    Christophe Espírito Santo

  2. Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709, USA

    Nadezhda German

  3. Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85712, USA

    Jutta Elguindi

  4. Bundeswehr Institute of Microbiology, Munich, Germany

    Gregor Grass

  5. Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, 1871, Frederiksberg C, Denmark

    Christopher Rensing

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  1. Christophe Espírito Santo
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  4. Gregor Grass
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  5. Christopher Rensing
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  1. Cupron Inc., Herzelia, Israel

    Gadi Borkow

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Espírito Santo, C., German, N., Elguindi, J., Grass, G., Rensing, C. (2014). Biocidal Mechanisms of Metallic Copper Surfaces. In: Borkow, G. (eds) Use of Biocidal Surfaces for Reduction of Healthcare Acquired Infections. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08057-4_6

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