Antibacterial Activity of Chlorhexidine-Killed Bacteria: The Zombie Cell Effect

Racheli Ben-Knaz Wakshlak, Rami Pedahzur, David Avnir*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report a biocidal zombie effect of chlorhexidine, a wide-scope biocidal agent commonly used in disinfectant and antiseptic formulations. The zombie effect refers to the ability of dead bacteria killed by a biocidal agent to act as efficient biocidal agents toward a new generation of viable bacteria. The killed bacteria serve as a reservoir for the antibacterial agent incorporated within them; and the new viable population of bacteria acts as a trap of the bioactive agent, shifting the equilibrium of this agent between the reservoir in the dead cells and their aqueous environment. This report is a major generalization of the zombie phenomenon reported previously for silver from the points of view of extending to organic antibacterial agents; extending the effect to both Gram-negative - Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 - and Gram positive - Staphylococcus aureus - representative bacteria; showing that the zombie effect is maintained in the second and third generations; showing the effect to operate in an environment of growth media, which extends it to life-supporting environments; and proving that cross-killing is possible, that is, killed S. aureus cells fully inactivated viable P. aeruginosa.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)20868-20872
Number of pages5
JournalACS Omega
Volume4
Issue number25
DOIs
StatePublished - 17 Dec 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2019 American Chemical Society.

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