Effect of Combined Physical Stresses on Cells: The Role of Water

International audience; The role of water in microorganism viability was assessed through the application of combined physical perturbations. The combination of different physical parameters could allow to balance the properties variations (especially water related) resulting from the increase of one parameter alone. Thus, it is possible to optimize the survival of cells in controlling these parameters. This was tested through two different examples. The first example shows that combination of osmotic level and temperature can allow optimizing yeast cell survival in following membrane fluidity variation. Moreover this analysis has allowed a better comprehension of cell inactivation during r…

Damage in Escherichia coli Cells Treated with a Combination of High Hydrostatic Pressure and Subzero Temperature

ABSTRACT The relationship between membrane permeability, changes in ultrastructure, and inactivation in Escherichia coli strain K-12TG1 cells subjected to high hydrostatic pressure treatment at room and subzero temperatures was studied. Propidium iodide staining performed before and after pressure treatment made it possible to distinguish between reversible and irreversible pressure-mediated cell membrane permeabilization. Changes in cell ultrastructure were studied using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), which showed noticeable condensation of nucleoids and aggregation of cytosolic proteins in cells fixed after decompression. A novel technique used to mix fixation reagents with the c…

L’imagerie microscopique et la spectroscopie de fluorescence : outils essentiels pour l’étude de modèles cellulaires sous haute pression

National audience

Synergistic and Antagonistic Effects of Combined Subzero Temperature and High Pressure on Inactivation of Escherichia coli

ABSTRACT The combined effects of subzero temperature and high pressure on the inactivation of Escherichia coli K12TG1 were investigated. Cells of this bacterial strain were exposed to high pressure (50 to 450 MPa, 10-min holding time) at two temperatures (−20°C without freezing and 25°C) and three water activity levels (a w ) (0.850, 0.992, and ca. 1.000) achieved with the addition of glycerol. There was a synergistic interaction between subzero temperature and high pressure in their effects on microbial inactivation. Indeed, to achieve the same inactivation rate, the pressures required at −20°C (in the liquid state) were more than 100 MPa less than those required at 25°C, at pressures in t…

Applications des hautes pressions hydrostatiques en agroalimentaire

Emerging extraction

Traditional extraction methods include usually high temperature treatment (more than 100°C) with the subsequent risk of thermal denaturation or transformation of the target molecules. Moreover, these techniques are very time-consuming and require relatively large quantities of solvents. On the other hand, the use of environmentally friendly technologies has led researchers and the food industry to develop new alternative processes that can extract valuable compounds from different sources and food wastes of different origin. This chapter describes the potential use of emerging technologies such as ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE), laser ablation, pulsed electric fields (PEF), high volta…

Cell inactivation and membrane damage after long-term treatments at sub-zero temperature in the supercooled and frozen states.

The survival of cells subjected to cooling at sub-zero temperature is of paramount concern in cryobiology. The susceptibility of cells to cryopreservation processes, especially freeze-thawing, stimulated considerable interest in better understanding the mechanisms leading to cell injury and inactivation. In this study, we assessed the viability of cells subjected to cold stress, through long-term supercooling experiments, versus freeze-thawing stress. The viability of Escherichia coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and leukemia cells were assessed over time. Supercooled conditions were maintained for 71 days at -10 degrees C, and for 4 h at -15 degrees C, and -20 degrees C, without additives or…

Can pressure-induced cell inactivation be related to cell volume compression? A case study for Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In this paper, emphasis has been put on the relationship between volume compression and cell inactivation for the Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain CBS 1171 submitted to high hydrostatic pressure treatments. The influence of cell dehydration on pressure inactivation was first investigated. Inactivation was found to be strongly limited, or even completely prevented for cells with a water content of 60% w/w or below. Moreover, the volume compression undergone by a single yeast cell was assessed as a function of pressure and hydration conditions using a high-pressure setup for pressure-volume-temperature measurements. Direct measurements of volume compression were performed on cell pellets after…