Clay mineral particles as effficient carriers of XXXX used for antimicrobial treatment.

@entity1 @entity26 @entity794 @entity6693 @entity5132 @entity74 @entity3456 @entity526
There is a strong demand to identify new strategies for disinfection and treatment of @entity1 , animal, and plant pathogens. The presented work shows the potential of clay minerals to contribute to the development of novel disinfection materials. Enhanced antimicrobial effect of a photoactive organic dye, @entity6693 (MB), in the colloids of clay mineral was observed. Singlet @entity26 (1O2) formed upon visible light irradiation was detected directly using luminescence measurements atthe near-infrared region and by spin-trapping method. While MB adsorbed on clay colloid particles lost the ability to produce 1O2 due to @entity74 , surprisingly, the antimicrobial activity was significantly enhanced. Under visible light irradiation, MB/clay minerals dispersions prevented the sporulation of A. @entity3456 and Penicillium sp. and inhibited the growth of @entity5132 by an additional 6-15% when compared with MB solution. In the experiments with @entity526 , the efficiency of MB was increased by the reduction of surviving cells by 27 and 33%. @entity794 proved to be the most susceptible to MB/clay dispersions. Only less than 20% cells survived with respect to the control experiment at the low MB concentration (1.1 x 10(-6) mol dm(-3)). The contradiction between the significant antimicrobial properties of MB in clay colloidal systems and low 1O2 formation can be explained in terms of the photosensitization mechanism. The role of clay particles is most likely to promote the contact between microorganism cells and photoactive MB. Although the dye directly bound to the clay surface exhibits significantly reduced photoactivity, the presence of clay mediates the delivery of dye molecules on the surface or inside cells. The results indicate new perspectives of potential implementations of clay minerals as parts of complex disinfection materials for industrial applications or in understanding similar processes in nature.
