Effects of combined exposure of Micrococcus luteus to nisin and pulsed electric fields

Death and injury following exposure of Micrococcus luteus to nisin and pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment were investigated in phosphate buffer (pH 6.8, σ=4.8 ms/cm at 20°C). Four types of experiment were carried out, a single treatment with nisin (100 IU/ml at 20°C for 2 h), a single PEF treatment, a PEF treatment followed by incubation with nisin (as before) and addition of nisin to the bacterial suspension prior to the PEF treatment. The application of nisin clearly enhanced the lethal effect of PEF treatment. The bactericidal effect of nisin reduced viable counts by 1.4 log 10 units. Treatment with PEF (50 pulses at 33 kV/cm) resulted in a reduction of 2.4 log 10 units. PEF treatment followed by nisin caused a reduction of 5.2 log 10 units in comparison with a 4.9 log 10 units reduction obtained with nisin followed by PEF. Injury of surviving cells was investigated using media with different concentrations of salt. Sublethally damaged cells of M. luteus could not be detected by this means, following PEF treatment.