by Keyword: Electromagnetic Field
Oliva, A. M., Homs, A., Torrents, E., Juarez, A., Samitier, J., (2014). Effect of electric field and temperature in E.Coli viability IFMBE Proceedings 
XIII Mediterranean Conference on Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing 2013 (ed. Roa Romero, Laura M.), Springer (Seville, Spain) 41, 1833-1836
Electromagnetic Fields are increasingly used to manipulate bacteria. However, there is no systematic and definitive study on how the different electric parameters change bacteria viability. Here we present preliminary data on the effect of electric field intensity and temperature applica- tion. E. Coli colonies have been exposed to different voltages at 1MHz during 5 minutes by means of a custom-made micro- fluidic device. Results show that E.Coli survival rate is already reduced by applying field intensities as low as 220V/cm during 5 minutes. The use of stronger fields resulted in death rates increase also. Viability of survived bacteria was maintained. On the other hand, temperature has shown a synergistic effect with voltage. When temperature is increased results seem to indicate stronger sensitivity of cells to the electric field. It is necessary to continue studying the contribution of other para- meters as intensity, time, frequency or concentration, to study further synergies.
JTD Keywords: E. Coli, Electromagnetic Field, Temperature, Viability
