Fig. 3

Staphylococcus aureus biofilms were exposed to a 6-minute electric field (ET₆) and incubated after delay intervals of 0 min (ET₆-ON), 6 min (ET₆-DT₆-ON), 12 min (ET₆-DT₁₂-ON), and 60 min (ET₆-DT₆₀-ON). Bars represent mean ± standard deviation (n = 3) of colony-forming unit counts (CFU/mL), shown on a logarithmic scale. One-way ANOVA detected no significant differences among groups (p = 0.565). Tukey’s post-hoc comparisons versus ET₆-ON yielded p = 0.965 (ET₆-ON vs. ET₆-DT₆-ON), p = 0.621 (ET₆-ON vs. ET₆-DT₁₂-ON), and p = 0.643 (ET₆-ON vs. ET₆-DT₆₀-ON), indicating a progressive but non-significant recovery of culturability over time. These results suggest that the electric-field effect on biofilm disruption is transient.