Copper as a biocidal tool
Abstract
Copper ions, either alone or in copper complexes, have been used to disinfect liquids, solids and human tissue for centuries. Today copper is used as a water purifier, algaecide, fungicide, nematocide, molluscicide as well as an antibacterial and anti-fouling agent. Copper also displays potent anti-viral activity. This article reviews (i) the biocidal properties of copper; (ii) the possible mechanisms by which copper is toxic to microorganisms; and (iii) the systems by which many microorganisms resist high concentrations of heavy metals, with an emphasis on copper. Keywords: bacteriostatic, gram-negative organisms, electroplated coatings, copper-impregnated fabrics, water purifier, antiviral, oxidizing agents, cell membrane, cell viability
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Copper exhibits a wide range of antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, fungi and viruses.
“Copper also exhibits a wide range of antimicrobial activity, including that against Gram-positive (e.g., Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Clostridium difficile and Listeria monocytogenes) and Gram-negative (e.g., Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae) bacteria, fungi (Candida albicans and Aspergillus brasiliensis) and viruses (adenovirus, norovirus and Pol”
From Bioactive Compounds for Skin Health: A Review (2021) · cites this paper as [123]
Cites
(1979) · Biochemical Education · doi:10.1016/0307-4412(79)90105-5 · Cited by 598 · see citing works
Cornelis, R., Borguet, F., & Kimpe, J. D. (1993) · Analytica Chimica Acta · doi:10.1016/0003-2670(93)85221-5 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Nutritional immunity: transition metals at the pathogen–host interface
Hood, M. I., & Skaar, E. P. (2012) · Nature Reviews Microbiology · doi:10.1038/nrmicro2836 · Cited by 1,535 · see citing works
Bioactive Compounds for Skin Health: A Review
Michalak, M., Pierzak, M., Kręcisz, B., & Suliga, E. (2021) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu13010203 · Cited by 345 · see citing works
Copper Homeostasis at the Host-Pathogen Interface
Hodgkinson, V., & Petris, M. J. (2012) · Journal of Biological Chemistry · doi:10.1074/jbc.r111.316406 · Cited by 316 · see citing works
Copper in Microbial Pathogenesis: Meddling with the Metal
Samanovic, M. I., Ding, C., Thiele, D. J., & Darwin, K. H. (2012) · Cell Host & Microbe · doi:10.1016/j.chom.2012.01.009 · Cited by 278 · see citing works
Molecular mechanisms of enhanced wound healing by copper oxide-impregnated dressings
Borkow, G., Gabbay, J., Dardik, R., Eidelman, A. I., Lavie, Y., Grunfeld, Y., Ikher, S., Huszar, M., Zatcoff, R. C., & Marikovsky, M. (2010) · Wound Repair and Regeneration · doi:10.1111/j.1524-475x.2010.00573.x · Cited by 253 · see citing works
Self-citationThe neglected role of copper ions in wound healing
Kornblatt, A. P., Nicoletti, V. G., & Travaglia, A. (2016) · Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry · doi:10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2016.02.012 · Cited by 221 · see citing works
Iodine-Stabilized Cu Nanoparticle Chitosan Composite for Antibacterial Applications
Mallick, S., Sharma, S., Banerjee, M., Ghosh, S. S., Chattopadhyay, A., & Paul, A. (2012) · ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces · doi:10.1021/am201586w · Cited by 152 · see citing works
Using Copper to Improve the Well-Being of the Skin
Borkow, G. (2015) · Current Chemical Biology · doi:10.2174/2212796809666150227223857 · Cited by 149 · see citing works
Self-citationPathogenic adaptations to host-derived antibacterial copper
Chaturvedi, K. S., & Henderson, J. P. (2014) · Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology · doi:10.3389/fcimb.2014.00003 · Cited by 134 · see citing works
Philips, N., Hwang, H., Chauhan, S., Leonardi, D., & Gonzalez, S. (2010) · Connective Tissue Research · doi:10.3109/03008200903288431 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Could chronic wounds not heal due to too low local copper levels?
Borkow, G., Gabbay, J., & Zatcoff, R. C. (2008) · Medical Hypotheses · doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2007.06.006 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Self-citationGant, V. A., Wren, M. W. D., Rollins, M. S. M., Jeanes, A., Hickok, S. S., & Hall, T. J. (2007) · Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy · doi:10.1093/jac/dkm201 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
Healing of Chronic Wounds by Copper Oxide-Impregnated Wound Dressings—Case Series
Melamed, E., Kiambi, P., Okoth, D., Honigber, I., Tamir, E., & Borkow, G. (2021) · Medicina · doi:10.3390/medicina57030296 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Self-citationBorkow, G., & Melamed, E. (2025) · Biomedicines · doi:10.3390/biomedicines13030562 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Self-citationMelamed, E., Rovitsky, A., Roth, T., Assa, L., & Borkow, G. (2021) · Medicina · doi:10.3390/medicina57101129 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Self-citationGorel, O., Hamuda, M., Feldman, I., & Kucyn‐Gabovich, I. (2024) · Health Science Reports · doi:10.1002/hsr2.1816 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Continuum of care in hard-to-heal wounds by copper dressings: A case series
Melamed, E., & Borkow, G. (2023) · Journal of Wound Care · doi:10.12968/jowc.2023.32.12.788 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Borkow, G., & Gabbay, J.
- Affiliations
- Cupron (United States) (US)
- Corresponding author
- Gabbay, Jeffrey
- ORCID
- Borkow, Gadi
- Venue
- Current Medicinal Chemistry
- Publisher
- Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.
- Published
- 2005-08-01
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 18
- Pages
- 2163-2175
- ISSN
- 0929-8673 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2004905031
- Cited by
- 727
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 21 · 2025: 37 · 2024: 52 · 2023: 47 · 2022: 60 · 2021: 65 · 2020: 63 · 2019: 53 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 50 · 2016: 32 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 39 · 2013: 30 · 2012: 41
- FWCI
- 3.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Current Medicinal Chemistry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Organic Chemistry › Antimicrobial agents and applications
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Nanoparticles: synthesis and applications
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Ocean Engineering › Marine Biology and Environmental Chemistry
- Keywords
- copper, copper ions, copper complexes, biocidal activity, antibacterial activity, antiviral activity, antimicrobial mechanisms, heavy metal resistance, Gram-negative bacteria, electroplated coatings, water purification, algaecides, fungicides, molluscicides, nematicides, cell membrane damage
- MeSH terms
- Anti-Infective Agents, Bacteria, Copper, Humans, Models, Biological, Viruses
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
