Treatment of infections with electric current. Free Technical Library News

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Treatment of infections with electric current

03.11.2019

The original method, developed by scientists from the Swanson School of Engineering (SSOE) at the University of Pittsburgh (USA), is designed to treat infections caused by metal implants. The researchers suggest using electrochemical therapy to increase the ability of antibiotics to kill microbes.

Titanium has many properties that make it a suitable material for implants: low density, high stiffness, high biomechanical strength-to-weight ratio, and corrosion resistance. Today, different types of implants are made from titanium: from dental to joint prostheses. However, there is a persistent problem with metal implants: their surface is an ideal place for germs to accumulate, causing chronic infections and inflammation in the surrounding tissue. So, about five to 10 percent of dental implants fail and must be removed within 10-15 years so that the infection does not spread to the blood and other organs.

Added to this is the "crisis of antibiotics": many microbes develop resistance to certain drugs. Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh have found a way to help antibiotics fight infectious diseases.

The essence of their method is that a weak electric current is passed through a metal implant. The charge damages the cell membrane of the microbe attached to the implant, while not damaging the surrounding healthy tissue. Damage increases the permeability of the bacterial cell, making the microbe more susceptible to antibiotics. Most antibiotics usually target cells that will proliferate and bypass dormant, dormant microbes - which can cause infections to recur. Electrochemical therapy causes stress in all microbial cells, including sleeping ones.

The researchers tested their technology against Candida albicans (C. albicans), one of the most common and harmful fungal infections associated with dental implants.

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