Control Release of Bactericidal Ion by an Electronically Driven System

There is a dramatic proliferation of research related to electronically generated metallic bactericidal ions. Unfortunately, there are no literature reviews or discussions concerning metallic-nanoparticle suspension as a drug reservoir for iontophoretic applications. Heavy metals, especially silver, are frequently used to treat infection before the development of systemic antimicrobial agents. For medical applications, the conversion of colloidal silver into its ionic form is required; however, it does not directly use silver salts to provide the silver ions, due to the counter-ion (e.g., NO₃ ⁻, SO₄ ⁻) content of silver salts, which may cause severe problems to the body as the silver ion is consumed. The goal of this research is to develop an electronic dissociation system (EDS), which can provide a relatively safe bactericidal ion (Ag⁺) solution from the silver nanoparticles that has a controllable electric field. In this study, an ionic selective electrode (ISE) was used to observe and identify the details of the system activity throughout the course of the experiment. Both qualitative and quantitative data analyses were performed. The experimental data indicated that EDS can control the parameters of ion-releasing profiles, including the area under curve (AUC, dosage), rate of profile rise and fall, total dissociation time, peak time, and peak level concentration by a constant voltage (CV) mode or constant current (CC) mode. However, the CC mode was proved to be more controllable (an increase of 200 μA, equal to an increase of 1 ppm/hour), as the premeditated driving force is more precise, and relies on the current not voltage. This technology will be used to develop a chemical residue-free administration of control-released medical devices for iontophoretic applications.