The aim of this study was to demonstrate the potential of PEF for inducing autolysis of R. glutinis, with the purpose of designing a more efficient and ecofriendly carotenoid extraction process: an extraction from fresh biomass, using cheaper, non-toxic, environmental-friendly solvents.

Propidium iodide uptake and release of intracellular components revealed the irreversible electroporation of R. glutinis by PEF. Flow cytometry measurements detected morphological changes in PEF-treated R. glutinis cells during incubation caused by the autolysis triggering effect of electroporation.

After submitting the fresh biomass to a PEF treatment (15 kV/cm, 150 μs) that irreversibly electroporated more than the 90% of the cells, ethanol proved ineffective for extracting carotenoids from fresh biomass of R. glutinis. However, after incubating the PEF-treated fresh biomass for 24 h at 20 °C in a pH 7 buffer, ca. 240 μg/g d.w. of carotenoids were recovered after 1 h of extraction in ethanol. The highest amount of carotenoids extracted (375 μg/g d.w.) from the PEF-treated cells of R. glutinis was obtained after having incubated them at 25 °C for 24 h in a medium of pH 8.0.

The improvement in carotenoid extraction by incubating the R. glutinis cells after PEF treatment seems to be caused by PEF-triggered autolysis, which tends to disrupt the association of carotenoids with other molecules present in the cytoplasm, and causes a degradation of the cell wall.

这项研究的目的是证明PEF诱导臀肌红细胞自溶的潜力，旨在设计一种更有效，更环保的类胡萝卜素提取工艺：使用便宜，无毒，环境友好的方法从新鲜生物质中提取溶剂。

碘化丙啶的摄取和细胞内成分的释放揭示了PEF对R.glutinis的不可逆电穿孔。流式细胞仪检测在孵育过程中检测到由PEF处理的R. glutinis细胞的形态变化，该变化是由电穿孔的自溶触发作用引起的。

将新鲜的生物质进行不可逆电穿孔超过90％的细胞的PEF处理（15 kV / cm，150μs）后，乙醇被证明无法有效地从谷氨酸棒杆菌的新鲜生物质中提取类胡萝卜素。但是，将PEF处理过的新鲜生物质在pH值为7的缓冲液中于20°C孵育24小时后。在乙醇中提取1小时后，回收了240μg/ g dw类胡萝卜素。从PEF处理过的R. glutinis细胞中提取的类胡萝卜素含量最高（375μg / g dw），是在25°C在pH 8.0的培养基中孵育24小时后得到的。

在PEF处理后通过孵育R.glutinis细胞对类胡萝卜素提取的改善似乎是由PEF触发的自溶引起的，这倾向于破坏类胡萝卜素与细胞质中存在的其他分子的缔合，并导致细胞壁降解。