FIGURE 3.

Viability of bacterial cells after TiO₂ exposure. Viable counts (in % of the control) of L. lactis IBB477 (A) and E. coli K12 MG1655 (B) subjected to TiO₂ at 320 μg/mL in its dispersed form D for food-grade E171 (light orange) vs. TiO₂-NPs P25 (light green), and sampled at the end of the culture. Data are the means ± SEM. Significance was determined using one-way ANOVA corrected for multiple comparisons with Dunnett test: (^∗) indicates p < 0.05 compared to control conditions with no TiO₂ added.