Synergetic Inactivation Mechanism of Protocatechuic Acid and High Hydrostatic Pressure against Escherichia coli O157:H7

With the wide application of high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) technology in the food industry, safety issues regarding food products, resulting in potential food safety hazards, have arisen. To address such problems, this study explored the synergetic bactericidal effects and mechanisms of protocatechuic acid (PCA) and HHP against Escherichia coli O157:H7. At greater than 200 MPa, PCA (1.25 mg/mL for 60 min) plus HHP treatments had significant synergetic bactericidal effects that positively correlated with pressure. After a combined treatment at 500 MPa for 5 min, an approximate 9.0 log CFU/mL colony decline occurred, whereas the individual HHP and PCA treatments caused 4.48 and 1.06 log CFU/mL colony decreases, respectively. Mechanistically, membrane integrity and morphology were damaged, and the permeability increased when E. coli O157: H7 was exposed to the synergetic stress of PCA plus HHP. Inside cells, the synergetic treatment additionally targeted the activities of enzymes such as superoxide dismutase, catalase and ATPase, which were inhibited significantly (p ≤ 0.05) when exposed to high pressure. Moreover, an analysis of circular dichroism spectra indicated that the synergetic treatment caused a change in DNA structure, which was expressed as the redshift of the characteristic absorption peak. Thus, the synergetic treatment of PCA plus HHP may be used as a decontamination method owing to the good bactericidal effects on multiple targets.