title: Inactivation of spores by electric arcs.
abstract: In the context of spore contamination involved in bio-terrorism and food preservation, the development of new techniques for spore inactivation is an important challenge.
  
  
  
  Here, a successful application of electric arc discharges resulting in spore death was reported. Two types of electric arcs were compared, different with respect to their durations. The discharges with 0.5 μs duration induced a small inactivation area of 0.6 % of surface treated around their point of entry into the sample, while those with 20 μs duration induced a much larger inactivation area from 7 to 55 % of surface treated roughly proportional to the number of discharges delivered. In particular, 50 discharges of 20 μs duration induced inactivation in more than 55% of surface treated at an inactivation rate above 3.6 log10.
  
  
  
  These results are promising and warrant developing electric arcing as a novel method for spore inactivation.
authors.affiliation: CNRS, IPBS (Institut de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale), 205 Route de Narbonne BP64182, F-31077, Toulouse, France. pillet@ipbs.fr.|Université de Toulouse, UPS, IPBS, F-31077, Toulouse, France. pillet@ipbs.fr.
authors.forename: Flavien
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pillet
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Tržaška 25, SI-1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Marjanovič
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Tržaška 25, SI-1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Matej
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reberšek
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Tržaška 25, SI-1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Damijan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Miklavčič
authors.affiliation: CNRS, IPBS (Institut de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale), 205 Route de Narbonne BP64182, F-31077, Toulouse, France.|Université de Toulouse, UPS, IPBS, F-31077, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Marie-Pierre
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Rols
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Tržaška 25, SI-1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Tadej
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kotnik
mesh_terms: D000069979:Bacillus pumilus / Q000502:physiology*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004560:Electricity; D050296:Microbial Viability; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000502:physiology*; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D014867:Water
keywords: Bacterial spore eradication; Electric arc discharges