Lack of effect of an externally applied electric field on bacterial adhesion to glass

Deposition to glass of Streptococcus salivarius HB-C12 and Staphylococcus epidermidis 3399 in a parallel plate flow chamber in the absence and presence of an externally applied electric field has been studied experimentally. No effect on bacterial adhesion, including initial deposition rates, numbers of adhering bacteria after 4 h, spatial distributions of adhering bacteria and air bubble induced detachment, was found. A theoretical analysis shows that electric fields applied over a 150 mum thin glass substratum do not have a sufficiently strong effect on its surface potential to influence bacterial adhesion. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.