T. J. BERGER et. al. Electrically Generated Silver Ions: Quantitative Effects on Bacterial and Mammalian Cells. Antimicrobial AGENTS AND CHEMOTHERAPY, Feb. 1976, p. 357-358

Silver generated at the positive (anode) electrode with weak direct current has been demonstrated to be an extremely effective agent for inhibiting bacterial growth in vitro (2, 7). This as been due primarily to a specific effect of silver at low current densities with no other alteration of the medium. To date the antibacterial activities of electrically generated silver have not been compared with the activities of other antimicrobial agents, in particular silver sulfadiazine. Therefore, we determined the bacteriostatic and bactericidal concentrations of electrically generated silver against 16 clinical isolates and standard test organisms. We also report the effects of anodically generated silver on mouse bone marrow cell populations after 18 h in culture.

In conclusion, Ag+ generated at the anode seems to be a very effective bactericidal agent at low concentrations without any detrimental effects upon normal mammalian cells.

Full PDF File with results here.