title: Probiotic bacteria may become dormant during storage.
abstract: The determination of bacterial viability in probiotic products is of economic, technological, and clinical significance. We compared four methods to enumerate three Bifidobacterium strains in fermented oat products during storage. A subpopulation of nonculturable cells retained a functional cell membrane typical of viable cells, indicating that probiotic bacteria become dormant during storage.
authors.affiliation: Functional Foods Forum/University of Turku, Itäinen pitkäkatu 4, 20014 Turku, Finland. sajola@utu.fi
authors.forename: Sampo J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lahtinen
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gueimonde
authors.forename: Arthur C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Ouwehand
authors.forename: Johanna P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Reinikainen
authors.forename: Seppo J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Salminen
mesh_terms: D018554:Avena / Q000382:microbiology; D001483:Base Sequence; D001644:Bifidobacterium / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial / Q000379:methods; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D005285:Fermentation; D005516:Food Microbiology; D005519:Food Preservation; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D019936:Probiotics
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial