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. 1978 Mar 1;19(1):93–101. doi: 10.1186/BF03547645

The Effect of pH and Potassium Phosphate Buffer on the Toxicity of Cadmium for Bacteria

Inverkan av pH och kaliumfosfatbuffer på toxisiteten av kadmium för bakterier

H Korkeala 1,✉, T J Pekkanen 1
PMCID: PMC8366321  PMID: 26194

Abstract

An increase in the pH of Plate Count Agar led to increased toxicity of cadmium (Cd) for Micrococcus luteus ATCC 9341, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 12600, Clostridium perfringens ATCC 8798, Escherichia coli ATCC 11775 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 10145. The effect of the pH on toxicity was not clearly observed with Streptococcus bovis ATCC 9809 and was absent with Bacillus subtilis ATCC 8473.

When potassium phosphate buffer was added to the growth medium, the Cd toxicity for M. luteus and B. subtilis was enhanced. The toxicity of Cd for S. bovis decreased when potassium phosphate buffer was added to the medium. When the pH increased at differing phosphate concentrations, the sensitivity of M. luteus to Cd decreased.

In the authors’ opinion, the effect of pH on Cd toxicity for bacteria is due to a continuously increasing negative charge towards an alkaline value by most bacteria which increases the affinity of cations towards the cell wall.

Keywords: cadmium, pH, phosphate, bacteria

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