Reactive species of plasma-activated water for murine norovirus 1 inactivation

Fengqing Wang; Qing Zhang; Ran An; Chenang Lyu; Jialun Xu; Dapeng Wang

doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2024.114877

Reactive species of plasma-activated water for murine norovirus 1 inactivation

Food Res Int. 2024 Oct:194:114877. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2024.114877. Epub 2024 Aug 6.

Authors

Fengqing Wang¹, Qing Zhang², Ran An¹, Chenang Lyu¹, Jialun Xu¹, Dapeng Wang³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Advanced Optical Communication Systems and Networks, Key Laboratory for Laser Plasmas (Ministry of Education), School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
³ Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China. Electronic address: dapengwang@sjtu.edu.cn.

PMID: 39232515
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2024.114877

Abstract

Human norovirus (HuNoV), the leading cause of foodborne acute gastroenteritis, poses a serious threat to public health. Traditional disinfection methods lead to destructions of food properties and functions, and/or environmental contaminations. Green and efficient approaches are urgently needed to disinfect HuNoV. Plasma-activated water (PAW) containing amounts of reactive species is an emerging nonthermal and eco-friendly disinfectant towards the pathogenic microorganisms. However, the disinfection efficacy and mechanism of PAW on HuNoV has not yet been studied. Murine norovirus 1 (MNV-1) is one of the most commonly used HuNoV surrogates to evaluate the efficacy of disinfectants. In the current study, the inactivation efficacy of MNV-1 by PAW was investigated. The results demonstrated that PAW significantly inactivated MNV-1, reducing the viral titer from approximately 6 log₁₀ TCID₅₀/mL to non-detectable level. The decreased pH, increased oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) and conductivity of PAW were observed compared with that of deionized water. Compositional analysis revealed that hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), nitrate (NO₃^-) and hydroxyl radical (OH) were the functional reactive species in MNV-1 inactivation. L-histidine could scavenge most of the inactivation effect in a concentration-dependent manner. Moreover, PAW could induce damage to viral proteins. Part of MNV-1 particles was destroyed, while others were structurally intact without infectiousness. After 45 days of storage at 4 °C, PAW generated with 80 % O₂ and 100 % O₂ could still reduce over 4 log₁₀ TCID₅₀/mL of the viral titer. In addition, PAW prepared using hard water induced approximately 6 log₁₀ TCID₅₀/mL reduction of MNV-1. PAW treatment of MNV-1-inoculated blueberries reduced the viral titer from 3.79 log₁₀ TCID₅₀/mL to non-detectable level. Together, findings of the current study uncovered the crucial reactive species in PAW inactivate MNV-1 and provided a potential disinfection strategy to combat HuNoV in foods, water, and environment.

Keywords: Disinfectant; Hydrogen peroxide; Hydroxyl radical; Inactivation; Nitrate; Norovirus; Plasma-activated water; Reactive species.

MeSH terms

Animals
Disinfectants* / pharmacology
Disinfection* / methods
Hydrogen Peroxide*
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Hydroxyl Radical / metabolism
Mice
Nitrates / pharmacology
Norovirus* / drug effects
Norovirus* / physiology
Plasma Gases / pharmacology
Virus Inactivation* / drug effects
Water* / chemistry

Substances

Hydrogen Peroxide
Water
Disinfectants
Plasma Gases
Hydroxyl Radical
Nitrates