Cold shock lethality and injury in Clostridium perfringens.

Several observations have been made in regard to cold shock lethality of Clostridium perfringens: (i) loss of viability was not consequence of exposure of the cells to air; (ii) stationary-phase cells were much more resistant to cold shock at 4 C than exponential-phase cells; (iii) at 4 C 96% of an initial population of exponential-phase cells was killed upon cold shock and 95% of the remaining population was killed within 90 min of continued exposure at 4 C; (iv) the minimal temperature differential for detectable cold shock lethality was between 17 and 23 C, and the maximum beyond which lethality was not appreciably increased was between 28 and 33 C. Up to 75% of viable cold-shocked cells were injured, as demonstrated by cold shocking late exponential-phase cells at 10 C and using differential plating procedure for recovery. Repair of injury was temperature dependent, and occurred in a complex medium and 0.1% peptone but not water. Nalidixic acid, chloramphenicol, and rifampin did not inhibit repair of injury.