Nelson Romano, Monica Marro, Maria Marsal, Pablo Loza-Álvarez, Andrea Gomez-Zavaglia
The dehydration of lactic acid bacteria for technological purposes induces multilevel damage to bacterial cells. This chapter provides protocols for analyzing functional and structural alterations following the dehydration of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus CIDCA 333 using vacuum drying technology. Protocols involving conventional microbiological assays (plate counting, metabolic activity), fluorescence (membrane integrity), and Raman spectroscopies (DNA conformational analysis) are presented, along with experimental tips and suggestions.