RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of ambient conditions on the antibacterial activity of inorganic antibacterial agent based on sodium titanium phosphate. METHODS: The number of live E. Coli ATCC 44113 was counted after the suspension was shaken and incubated in flask with antibacterial agent under ambient conditions. RESULT: The number of live bacteria increased when the concentration of bacteria increased in the range of 1.2 x 10(2) to 1.2 x 10(8) cfu/ml. The antibacterial activity increased with the increase of ambient temperature in the range of 16 approximately 46 degrees C, showing good antibacterial activity at human body temperature. With the increase of the concentrations of co-existing NaCl and protein, the antibacterial activity was found to decrease at first and level off at 0.01 g/ml and 0.0005 g/ml respectively. CONCLUSION: The antibacterial agent has to be used together with organic antibacterial agent in order to achieve good antibacterial effect when the ambient bacterial concentration is high. The antibacterial agent is promising to be used in the preparation of antibacterial cloth because it is highly effective at body temperature and expected to remain antibacterial in perspiration.
