Bacteriocidal, bacteriostatic

Bacteriocidal is a term that refers to the treatment of a bacterium such that the organism is killed. Bacteriostatic refers to a treatment that restricts the ability of the bacterium to grow. A bacteriocidal treatment is always lethal and is also referred to as sterilization . In contrast, a bacteriocidal treatment is necessarily lethal.

Bacteriocidal methods include heat, filtration, radiation, and the exposure to chemicals. The use of heat is a very popular method of sterilization in a microbiology laboratory. The dry heat of an open flame incinerates microorganisms like bacteria , fungi and yeast . The moist heat of a device like an autoclave can cause deformation of the protein constituents of the microbe, as well as causing the microbial membranes to liquefy. The effect of heat depends on the time of exposure in addition to form of heat that is supplied. For example, in an autoclave that supplies a temperature of 121° F (49.4° C), an exposure time of 15 minutes is sufficient to kill the so-called vegetative form of bacteria. However, a bacterial spores can survive this heat treatment. More prolonged exposure to the heat is necessary to ensure that the spore will not germinate into a living bacteria after autoclaving. The relationship between the temperature and the time of exposure can be computed mathematically.

A specialized form of bacteriocidal heat treatment is called pasteurization after Louis Pasteur , the inventor of the process. Pasteurization achieves total killing of the bacterial population in fluids such as milk and fruit juices without changing the taste or visual appearance of the product.

Another bacteriocidal process, albeit an indirect one, is filtration. Filtration is the physical removal of bacteria from a fluid by the passage of the fluid through the filter. The filter contains holes of a certain diameter. If the diameter is less than the smallest dimension of a bacterium, the bacterium will be retained on the surface of the filter it contacts. The filtered fluid is sterile with respect to bacteria. Filtration is indirectly bactericidal since the bacteria that are retained on the filter will, for a time, be alive. However, because they are also removed from their source of nutrients, the bacteria will eventually die.

Exposure to electromagnetic radiation such as ultraviolet radiation is a direct means of killing bacteria. The energy of the radiation severs the strands of deoxyribonucleic acid in many locations throughout the bacterial genome. With only one exception, the damage is so severe that repair is impossible. The exception is the radiation resistant bacterial genus called Deinococcus. This genus has the ability to piece together the fragments of DNA in their original order and enzymatic stitch the pieces into a functional whole.

Exposure to chemicals can be bacteriocidal. For example, the gas ethylene oxide can sterilize objects. Solutions containing alcohol can also kill bacteria by dissolving the membrane(s) that surround the contents of the cell. Laboratory benches are routinely "swabbed" with an ethanol solution to kill bacteria that might be adhering to the bench top. Care must be taken to ensure that the alcohol is left in contact with the bacteria for a suitable time (e.g., minutes). Otherwise, bacteria might survive and can even develop resistance to the bactericidal agent. Other chemical means of achieving bacterial death involve the alteration of the pH , salt or sugar concentrations, and oxygen level.

Antibiotics are designed to be bacteriocidal. Penicillin and its derivatives are bactericidal because they act on the peptidoglycan layer of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. By preventing the assembly of the peptidoglycan, penicillin antibiotics destroy the ability of the peptidoglycan to bear the stress of osmotic pressure that acts on a bacterium. The bacterium ultimately explodes. Other antibiotics are lethal because they prevent the manufacture of DNA or protein. Unlike bacteriocidal methods such as the use of heat, bacteria are able to acquire resistance to antibiotics. Indeed, such resistance by clinically important bacteria is a major problem in hospitals.

Bacteriostatic agents prevent the growth of bacteria. Refrigeration can be bacteriostatic for those bacteria that cannot reproduce at such low temperatures. Sometimes a bacteriostatic state is advantageous as it allows for the long-term storage of bacteria. Ultra-low temperature freezing and lyophilization (the controlled removal of water from a sample) are means of preserving bacteria. Another bacteriocidal technique is the storage of bacteria in a solution that lacks nutrients, but which can keep the bacteria alive. Various buffers kept at refrigeration temperatures can keep bacteria alive for weeks.

See also Bacterial growth and division; Disinfection and disinfectants; Laboratory techniques in microbiology