Fabrication and release property of self-assembled garlic essential oil-amylose inclusion complex by pre-gelatinization coupling with high-speed shear.

Our aim was to investigate the preparation of self-assembled garlic essential oil-amylose inclusion complexes (SGAs) using garlic essential oil (GEO) and corn starch (CS), and evaluated their release properties. SGAs were fabricated by pre-gelatinization coupling with high-speed shear at different GEO-CS mass ratios. When the mass ratio of GEO to pre-gelatinized corn starch was set at 15 % (SGA-15 %), with a fixed shear rate of 9000 rpm and a shear time of 30 min, the allicin content was 0.573 ± 0.023 mg/g. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results revealed a starch V-type crystalline structure in SGAs with peaks at 13.0°, 18.0°, and 20.0° (2θ). Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectra of SGAs displayed a shift in the characteristic peak of diallyl trisulfide from 987.51 cm-1 to 991.45 cm-1. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images revealed that SGAs exhibited lamellar structures covered with small granules. SGAs exhibited higher residual mass (approximately 12 %) than other samples. The resistant starch content of SGAs increased from 10.1 % to 18.4 % as GEO contents varied from 5 % to 15 %. In vitro digestion tests showed that about 53.21 % of allicin remained in SGA-15 % after 8 h. Therefore, this dual treatment can be a new method for fabricating controlled-release inclusion complexes of guest molecules.

Physicochemical properties and digestibility of potato starch treated by ball milling with tea polyphenols.

Native potato starch (NPS) with tea polyphenols (TPs) was treated in a planetary ball mill, and the effects of co-grinding on properties and digestibility of starch were studied. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed that the crystal structure of starch granules was destroyed after 7 h of ball grinding, and their crystallinity degree reduced from 38.1% to 8.3%. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses indicated that the damaged starch granules and TPs displayed agglomerates after 7 h of milling. The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results demonstrated the existence of an interaction between starch chains and TPs, which improved the thermal stability and gelatinization temperatures of starch. The ball-milled starches with different amount of TPs showed significant variability to in vitro digestion (the contents of slowly digestible starch and resistant starch). Therefore, the produced ball-milled mixtures may be a desired dietary product for postprandial glycemic control.

Ficellomycin: an aziridine alkaloid antibiotic with potential therapeutic capacity.

Ficellomycin is an aziridine antibiotic produced by Streptomyces ficellus, which displays high in vitro activity against Gram-positive bacteria including multidrug resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus. Compared to currently available antibiotics, ficellomycin exhibits a unique mechanism of action-it impairs the semiconservative DNA replication by inducing the formation of deficient 34S DNA fragments, which lack the ability to integrate into larger DNA pieces and eventually the complete bacterial chromosome. Until recently, some important progress has been made in research on ficellomycin synthesis and biosynthesis, opening the perspective to develop a new generation of antibiotics with better clinical performance than the currently used ones. In this review, we will cover the discovery and biological activity of ficellomycin, its biosynthesis, mode of action, and related synthetic analogs. The role of ficellomycin and its analogs as an important source of drug prototypes will be discussed together with future research prospects.