Sharp good mold bad mold, what kind of mold is Plasmacluster effective against?

Speaking of "mold", it's a disgusting thing that often grows on our bread. It can also grow on clothes in a closet. Mold fungi floating in the house are dangerous because they also produce toxins called mycotoxins. However, the koji used in sake and miso is mold, and it is also mold that produces antibiotics (penicillin). Mold has good and bad sides.

Sharp's Plasmacluster technology suppresses the action of mold in order to prevent mold from staining clothing and discharging toxins. On March 8, the company announced that Plasmacluster Ions have the effect of suppressing the growth of mold.

Plasmacluster technology is Sharp's proprietary technology that emits positive and negative ions into the air at the same time. When it sticks to the surface of floating molds and other fungi and viruses, positive ions and negative ions combine to form OH radicals with strong oxidizing power, suppressing the action of bacteria and viruses.

Plasmacluster has three main functions: sterilization and deodorization, static electricity removal, and skin moisturizing effect. It has been verified in experiments related to sterilization that Plasmacluster has a sterilization and suppression effect against mold that is floating and that is attached to walls. However, I didn't know what kind of mold condition and how effective it would be.

In molds, hyphae grow after the spores germinate. During the growth process, toxins are excreted, the next generation of spores is created, and the spores germinate again...then the process is endless. Therefore, it is important not to allow mold to grow. Does Plasmacluster Ion have the effect of suppressing the growth of mold?

This time, we prepared five types of fungi and investigated how Plasmacluster ions affect the growth of the fungi at each growth stage. There are three experiments: ``Verification of effect on germination and growth of spores'', ``Verification of effect on growth of mycelium and formation of spores'', and ``Verification of effect on formed spores''.

Put a petri dish containing mold in a cylindrical container, and irradiate the interior with Plasmacluster ions (2,000,000 ions per 1 cubic centimeter) for 3 days.

First, experiments on germination and growth of spores. After 3 days of irradiation with Plasmacluster ions, counting the number of colonies (aggregates of fungi that have reached a visible size) revealed that almost no germination or growth was observed for any of the five types of fungi. It is clear from the experimental data.

In experiments on mycelial growth and spore formation, we observed the color and size of colonies after three days of irradiation with Plasmacluster ions. Under similar conditions, it was compared with one that was not irradiated with Plasmacluster ions. The experimental results show that no colony expansion was observed on the Petri dish surface and that spore formation was also suppressed.

In the verification of the effect on the formed spores, after three days of irradiation with Plasmacluster ions, the spores were collected, transferred to another Petri dish, and cultured for 12 hours. We counted the number of germinating spores under a microscope and examined the germination rate. Aspergillus and Penicillium had a significantly reduced germination rate. However, no significant effect was observed for Rhizopus.

There are molds to which Plasmacluster ions can easily reach the formed spores and molds to which Plasmacluster ions cannot reach. Rhizopus has a structure that is difficult for Plasmacluster ions to reach because the spores are contained in a shell called a sporangium.

In this study, it was clarified that Plasmacluster Ions have an inhibitory effect on each growth stage of mold. Sharp will apply Plasmacluster technology to medical facilities, medical institutions, agriculture, food, vegetable factories, etc., aiming to expand sales in the BtoB market, including air conditioners.