FIG. 4.

Uptake of fluorescent dyes by cells of L. monocytogenes exposed to ethanol. Cells grown to the stationary phase (approximately 3 × 10⁹ CFU ml⁻¹) were diluted 1:10 in TSB-YE alone (−) or TSB-YE with 5% ethanol (+). Samples were removed at intervals and subsequently stained with ethidium bromide (EB) (open bars) or propidium iodide (PI) (shaded bars). Fluorescence was expressed as a percentage of the value obtained with control cells heated at 80°C for 10 min, which was assumed to be 100%. The data are means, and the error bars indicate standard deviations for experiments performed in triplicate.