In vitro Antibacterial Effect Study of Plasma-Activated Saline on Mycobacterium Tuberculosis

Jianbao Zheng; Zepeng Dong; Xianzhen Jin; Jing Li; Yuanwu Zou; Guanghong Bai; Qianhong Wu; Shenghang Xu; Zifeng Wang; Xuejun Sun; Dingxin Liu; Li Guo

doi:10.2147/IDR.S456181

In vitro Antibacterial Effect Study of Plasma-Activated Saline on Mycobacterium Tuberculosis

Infect Drug Resist. 2024 Jun 11:17:2315-2328. doi: 10.2147/IDR.S456181. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Jianbao Zheng^#^{1

2}, Zepeng Dong^#¹, Xianzhen Jin¹, Jing Li², Yuanwu Zou², Guanghong Bai², Qianhong Wu², Shenghang Xu³, Zifeng Wang³, Xuejun Sun¹, Dingxin Liu³, Li Guo³

Affiliations

¹ Department of General Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710061, People's Republic of China.
² Tuberculosis Prevention and Treatment Hospital in Shaanxi Province, Xi'an, 710100, People's Republic of China.
³ Center for Plasma Biomedicine, State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the antibacterial effects of plasma-activated saline (PAS) on My-cobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb).

Methods: We conducted a growth assay on 3 strains of Mtb and an antibiotic sensitivity test on 4 strains of Mtb. Both tests included groups treated with normal saline (NS), PAS, and hydrochloric acid (HCl). The test of antibiotic sensitivity consisted of parallel tests with two concentrations of bacteria suspension: 10^-2 and 10^-4. The selected antibiotics were rifampicin (RIF), isoniazid (INH), ethambutol (EMB), and streptomycin (SM). The number of bacteria was determined after one month of culture under different conditions. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to analyze the differences in grouping factors at representative time points.

Results: The growth assay indicated that PAS significantly inhibited the growth of 3 strains of Mtb compared with NS and HCl treatment groups. Furthermore, except for the initial observation time point, the remaining three observation time points consistently demonstrate no significant differences between the NS group and the HCl group. The antibiotic sensitivity test of INH, SM, and RIF indicated that PAS could inhibit the growth of antibiotic-resistant Mtb, and the antibiotic sensitivity test of INH and SM with bacterial suspension concentration of 10^-2 and SM with bacterial suspension concentration of 10^-4 showed statistically different results. The antibiotic sensitivity test of EMB indicated that the growth of Mtb in PAS was slower than that in NS and HCl in both antibiotic-resistant and sensitive Mtb, but there was no statistical difference.

Conclusion: The study indicates that PAS contains a significant amount of active substances and exhibits high oxidizability and an acidic pH state. The unique physicochemical properties of PAS significantly delayed the growth of Mtb, compared to the NS and the HCl. PAS not only inhibited the growth of drug-sensitive strains but also significantly enhanced the sensitivity of drug-resistant strains to anti-tuberculosis drugs, which may provide a new therapeutic strategy for the treatment of tuberculosis.

Keywords: antibacterial effect; antibiotic sensitivity; mycobacterium tuberculosis; plasma-activated saline.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by Shaanxi Provincial Health Science Research Project (Grant number: 2022D043), the Science and Technology Project of Xi’an City (Grant serial number: 23YXYJ0155), the Nanjing Tianqing Research Fund Project (Grant number: HX202334) and the Institute Fund from First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University (Grant number: 2022MS-17), the Science and Technology Project of Shaanxi Province (Grant serial number: 2022SF-423).