ArticleAntimicrobial agents and chemotherapy1994
Mechanism of electrical enhancement of efficacy of antibiotics in killing biofilm bacteria.
Article in Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, 1994. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 90 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
90 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 336 citations in OpenAlex.
- Bioelectric effect and bacterial biofilms. A systematic review.The International journal of artificial organs · 2008Pooled it
- Evaluation of dental plaque reduction using microcurrent-emitting toothbrushes in orthodontic patients: a randomized, double-blind, crossover clinical trial.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- A Prospective, Randomized, Controlled Study to Evaluate the Effectiveness of a Fabric-Based Wireless Electroceutical Dressing Compared to Standard-of-Care Treatment Against Acute Trauma and Burn Wound Biofilm Infection.Advances in wound care · 2024Trial
- Electrolytic cleaning as a biofilm control strategy on medical implants: mechanisms, evidence and translational perspectives.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- The Role of Silver and Silver-Based Products in Wound Management: A Review of Advances and Current Landscape.Journal of functional biomaterials · 2026Review
- Adjunctive intraoperative pulsed direct current with cefazolin: a rabbit proof-of-concept model for prevention of prosthetic joint infection.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Article
- Engineering an electroactive bacterial cellulose-carbon nanotube composite membrane againstBiofilm · 2025Article
- Electric fields unlock a transient vulnerability window for vancomycin-based treatment of staphylococcal biofilms.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Antibacterial Effect of Combined Electrolytic and Chemical Decontamination Methods on Dental Implant Surfaces: In Vitro Study.Clinical oral implants research · 2025Article
- Low-level direct currents eradicate multi-drug-resistantChemical engineering journal (Lausanne, Switzerland : 1996) · 2025Article
- On the effectiveness of electrical characterization of mature Staphylococcal Biofilm.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Smart Materials Design for Antibacterial Application.Pharmaceutical nanotechnology · 2025Review
- Unveiling the microbial diversity of biofilms on titanium surfaces in full-scale water-cooling plants using metagenomics approach.Folia microbiologica · 2024Article
- Emerging strategies for treating medical device and wound-associated biofilm infections.Microbial biotechnology · 2024Review
- Material-based treatment strategies against intraosseous implant biofilm infection.Biochemistry and biophysics reports · 2024Review
- Comparative Analysis of Plaque Removal and Wear between Electric-Mechanical and Bioelectric Toothbrushes.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Nanosecond pulsed electric fields increase antibiotic susceptibility in methicillin-resistantMicrobiology spectrum · 2024Article
- The effect of titanium surface treatment by application of constant potential or current on the viability of pre-osteoblast cells: anFrontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2024Article
- The treatment of bacterial biofilms cultivated on knee arthroplasty implants using the bioelectric effect.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2024Article
- A Study on the Biofilm Removal Efficacy of a Bioelectric Toothbrush.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
30 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The bioelectric effect, in which electric fields are used to enhance the efficacy of biocides and antibiotics in killing biofilm bacteria, has been shown to reduce the very high concentrations of these antibacterial agents needed to kill biofilm bacteria to levels very close to those needed to kill planktonic (floating) bacteria of the same species. In this report, we show that biofilm bacteria are readily killed by an antibiotic on all areas of the active electrodes and on the surfaces of conductive elements that lie within the electric field but do not themselves function as electrodes. Considerations of electrode geometry indicate that very low (< 100 microA/cm2) current densities may be effective in this electrical enhancement of antibiotic efficacy against biofilm bacteria, and flow experiments indicate that this bioelectric effect does not appear to depend entirely on the possible local electrochemical generation of antibacterial molecules or ions. These data are expected to facilitate the use of the bioelectric effect in the prevention and treatment of device-related bacterial infections that are caused by bacteria that grow in biofilms and thereby frustrate antibiotic chemotherapy.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.