RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Survival and Raman spectroscopy analysis of spores after sodium hypochlorite treatment

Sodium hypochlorite (bleach) is an inexpensive and common decontaminant, and a concentration of 0.5% has been reported to kill spores [21]. In addition, sodium hypochlorite degrades organic matter through a variety of reactions such as saponification of fatty acids, neutralization of amino acids, and ammoniation [22]. Therefore, the treatment of spores with sodium hypochlorite can cause damage to lipids, proteins, and DNA.
In this study, two methods were used to record spore survival, plate culture and live-cell imaging techniques. The survival of spores after sodium hypochlorite treatment was significantly lower than that of untreated spores and showed a decreasing trend with increasing treatment time (Figure 2 (a) ). In addition, the maximum difference (5 min) in spore survival obtained using these two methods was ~3%, indicating that the results obtained using dynamic live-cell imaging were consistent with the actual status of spores before and after treatment.