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Biocidal Mechanisms of Metallic Copper Surfaces

  • Christophe Espírito Santo
  • Nadezhda German
  • Jutta Elguindi
  • Gregor Grass
  • Christopher RensingEmail author
Chapter
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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.

Keywords

Metallic copper surface Antimicrobial Biocidal Toxicity Killing mechanism Membrane damage Genotoxicity 

List of 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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Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  • Christophe Espírito Santo
    • 1
  • Nadezhda German
    • 2
  • Jutta Elguindi
    • 3
  • Gregor Grass
    • 4
  • Christopher Rensing
    • 5
    Email author
  1. 1.IMAR – Instituto do MarUniversidade de CoimbraCoimbraPortugal
  2. 2.Research Triangle InstituteResearch Triangle ParkUSA
  3. 3.Department of Soil, Water and Environmental SciencesUniversity of ArizonaTucsonUSA
  4. 4.Bundeswehr Institute of MicrobiologyMunichGermany
  5. 5.Department of Plant and Environmental SciencesUniversity of CopenhagenFrederiksberg CDenmark

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