Electroporation is a phenomenon that when cells are exposed to a strong electric field, pores form on the cell membrane. It will cause cell inactivation when the pores cannot reseal. As an effective cell inactivation method without generation of by-products, electroporation has been widely used in food pasteurization and has also been proved to be a promising method for water disinfection. However, since the sensitivity of bacteria to electroporation remains poorly understood, it is difficult to determine the optimum treatment conditions in real applications. In this work, we have developed a rapid assay, combining a lab-on-a-chip platform and microscopy, to systematically study the sensitivity of bacteria to pulsed electric field electroporation. The sensitivity of different bacteria in different media and under different treatment conditions were investigated. The lab-on-a-chip platform and the assay developed in this work can also be used to study the sensitivity of other bacteria or other kinds of microorganisms, such as protozoa. With these sensitivity data, the optimum electroporation parameters could be chosen in real applications, to avoid low inactivation efficiency and energy waste.

Investigation of bacteria sensitivity to pulsed electric field electroporation using a lab-on-a-chip platform

2019 Spring National Meeting

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