title: Pulsed electric fields cause sublethal injury in Escherichia coli.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective was to investigate the occurrence of sublethal injury in Escherichia coli by pulsed electric fields (PEF) at different pH values.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The occurrence of sublethal injury in PEF-treated E. coli cells depended on the pH of the treatment medium. Whereas a slight sublethal injury was detected at pH 7, 99.95% of survivors were injured when cells were treated at pH 4 for 400 micros at 19 kV. The PEF-injured cells were progressively inactivated by a subsequent holding at pH 4.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PEF cause sublethal injury in E. coli. The measurement of sublethal injury using a selective medium plating technique allowed prediction of the number of cells that would be inactivated by subsequent storage in acidic conditions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This work could be useful for improving food preservation by PEF technology and contributes to the knowledge of the mechanism of microbial inactivation by PEF.
authors.affiliation: Tecnología de los Alimentos, Facultad de Veterinaria C/Miguel Servet, 177, 50013, Zaragoza, Spain.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: García
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gómez
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Condón
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Raso
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pagán
mesh_terms: D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003470:Culture Media; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005519:Food Preservation; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media