Growth in a Biofilm Sensitizes Cutibacterium acnes to Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Fields

Authors

Asia Poudel, Old Dominion UniversityFollow
Adenrele Oludiran, Old Dominion UniversityFollow
Esin B. Sözer, Old Dominion UniversityFollow
Maura Casciola, Old Dominion UniversityFollow
Erin B. Purcell, Old Dominion UniversityFollow
Claudia Muratori, Old Dominion UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2021

Publication Title

Bioelectrochemistry

Volume

140

Pages

107797-107805

DOI

10.1016/j.bioelechem.2021.107797

Abstract

The Gram-positive anaerobic bacterium Cutibacterium acnes (C. acnes) is a commensal of the human skin, but also an opportunistic pathogen that contributes to the pathophysiology of the skin disease acne vulgaris. C. acnes can form biofilms; cells in biofilms are more resilient to antimicrobial stresses. Acne therapeutic options such as topical or systemic antimicrobial treatments often show incomplete responses. In this study we measured the efficacy of nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEF), a new promising cell and tissue ablation technology, to inactivate C. acnes. Our results show that all tested nsPEF doses (250 to 2000 pulses, 280 ns pulses, 28 kV/cm, 5 Hz; 0.5 to 4 kJ/ml) failed to inactivate planktonic C. acnes and that pretreatment with lysozyme, a naturally occurring cell-wall-weakening enzyme, increased C. acnes vulnerability to nsPEF. Surprisingly, growth in a biofilm appears to sensitize C. acnes to nsPEF-induced stress, as C. acnes biofilm-derived cells showed increased cell death after nsPEF treatments that did not affect planktonic cells. Biofilm inactivation by nsPEF was confirmed by treating intact biofilms grown on glass coverslips with an indium oxide conductive layer. Altogether our results show that, contrary to other antimicrobial agents, nsPEF kill more efficiently bacteria in biofilms than planktonic cells.

Comments

© 2021 The Authors. This is an open access article under the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 license.

Original Publication Citation

Poudel, A., Oludiran, A., Sözer, E. B., Casciola, M., Purcell, E. B., & Muratori, C. (2021). Growth in a biofilm sensitizes Cutibacterium acnes to nanosecond pulsed electric fields. Bioelectrochemistry, 140, 107797-107805, Article 107797. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bioelechem.2021.107797

Repository Citation

Poudel, Asia; Oludiran, Adenrele; Sözer, Esin B.; Casciola, Maura; Purcell, Erin B.; and Muratori, Claudia, "Growth in a Biofilm Sensitizes Cutibacterium acnes to Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Fields" (2021). Bioelectrics Publications. 304.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/bioelectrics_pubs/304

ORCID

0000-0002-6244-3670 (Sözer), 0000-0002-3359-164X (Muratori)