Abstract:
Capillary electrophoresis is a modem instrument popularly used to analyze any compounds in foods,
drugs and environmental samples. The aim of this research was to apply this method for enumeration
of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophi/us found in yogurt. The
results showed that the chemical addition, injection pattern, length of capillary tube and temperature
affected electrophoretic mobility of these bacteria. Both bacteria migrated in the capillary column
within 6.77 and 7.19 minutes under an optimum condition as follows: TBE buffer pH 8.4 with 0.05%
PEO, inner diameter and length of capillary tube of 100 11m x 56 em, the first injection set of pressure
injection at 50 mbar for 3 seconds and the second set of electrokinetic injection at -5 kV for 120
seconds, separation voltage applied and temperature at 20 kVand 25C. This condition yielded a
good resolution of 3.16. Standard curves of bacterial number and peak areas were set up under the
optimum condition for bacterial enumeration in yogurt sample. Three brands of yogurt (A, B and C)
were sampled for bacterial enumeration by capillary electrophoresis compared to the plate count
method. The results found that Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus
thermophilus in all samples were separated for the enumeration by capillary electrophoresis with the
analysis time of less than 23 minutes. Bacterial numbers of each species in all samples counted by
both methods were not significantly different at 95% confidence level (p>0.05). Therefore, capillary
electrophoresis was applied for bacterial enumeration in this fermented milk and could be applied to
other starter known fermented foods.