D-Sorbitol may be used for washing spheroplasts and in isoelectric focusing to minimize endoosmotic flow in agarose gels. It may also be used to induce osmotic stress. It was formerly used as a diuretic and may still be used as a laxative and in irrigating solutions for some surgical procedures. It is also used in many manufacturing processes, as a pharmaceutical aid. Sorbitol can be used as a screen for the O154:H7 strain of E. coli, since this strain is one of the few strains which cannot metabolize sorbitol.