Fig. 4

Bactericidal activity of 1% NCT (filled square), 1% H₂O₂ (filled triangle), and 1% NCT plus 1% H₂O₂ (inverted triangle) at pH 7.1 and 37 °C. Control in phosphate buffer without additives (filled circle). Mean values ± SD of three to four independent experiments. **P < 0.01 versus all other values. BA “bactericidal activity” [log₁₀ cfu/min] as a quantitative measure for the strength of killing calculated by the integral method for the whole killing curve according to (Gottardi et al. 2015). The higher the value, the higher the microbicidal activity