Membrane damage and active but nonculturable state in liquid cultures of Escherichia coli treated with an atmospheric pressure plasma jet.

Electrical discharge plasmas can efficiently inactivate various microorganisms. Inactivation mechanisms caused by plasma, however, are not fully understood because of the complexity of both the plasma and biological systems. We investigated plasma-induced inactivation of Escherichia coli in water and mechanisms by which plasma affects bacterial cell membrane integrity. Atmospheric pressure argon plasma jet generated at ambient air in direct contact with bacterial suspension was used as a plasma source. We determined significantly lower counts of E. coli after treatment by plasma when they were assayed using a conventional cultivation technique than using a fluorescence-based LIVE/DEAD staining method, which indicated that bacteria may have entered the viable-but-nonculturable state (VBNC). We did not achieve resuscitation of these non-culturable cells, however, we detected their metabolic activity through the analysis of cellular mRNA, which suggests that cells may have been rather in the active-but-nonculturable state (ABNC). We hypothesize that peroxidation of cell membrane lipids by the reactive species produced by plasma was an important pathway of bacterial inactivation. Amount of malondialdehyde and membrane permeability of E. coli to propidium iodide increased with increasing bacterial inactivation by plasma. Membrane damage was also demonstrated by detection of free DNA in plasma-treated water.