Pectin from Citrus Canning Wastewater as Potential Fat Replacer in Ice Cream.

Pectin had been recovered from canning wastewater produced by chemical treatment of segment membrane during preparation of canned citrus in our previous research. The purpose of this study was to characterize the extracted pectin from canning wastewater, and to evaluate its application as a fat alternative to replace fat in ice cream. The monosaccharide composition and rheological properties of the pectin were determined. The influences of fat reduction and pectin addition on the physicochemical, rheological and sensory properties of low-fat ice cream were determined. The rheological results showed that pectin solutions were typical pseudoplastic fluids. The addition of pectin in ice cream can cause an increase in viscosity, overrun, and hardness, and a decrease in meltdown of the ice cream. When 0.72% pectin (w/w) is incorporated into ice cream, a prototype product of ice cream with 45% lower fat content compared to the control was made. Results indicated that their qualities such as appearance, flavor, and taste were not significantly different. The low-fat ice cream had higher smoothness scores and lower mouth-coating scores. Hence, pectin extracted from citrus canning wastewater can be potentially used as fat replacer in ice cream, which benefits both the environment and the food industry.

Kartogenin-loaded coaxial PGS/PCL aligned nanofibers for cartilage tissue engineering.

Electrospinning is a valuable technology for cartilage tissue engineering (CTE) due to its ability to produce fibrous scaffolds mimicking the nanoscale and alignment of collagen fibers present within the superficial zone of articular cartilage. Coaxial electrospinning allows the fabrication of core-shell fibers able to incorporate and release bioactive molecules (e.g., drugs or growth factors) in a controlled manner. Herein, we used coaxial electrospinning to produce coaxial poly(glycerol sebacate) (PGS)/poly(caprolactone) (PCL) aligned nanofibers (core:PGS/shell:PCL). The obtained scaffolds were characterized in terms of their structure, chemical composition, thermal properties, mechanical performance and in vitro degradation kinetics, in comparison to monoaxial PCL aligned fibers and respective non-aligned controls. All the electrospun scaffolds produced presented average fiber diameters within the nanometer-scale and the core-shell structure of the composite fibers was clearly confirmed by TEM. Additionally, fiber alignment significantly increased (>2-fold) the elastic modulus of both coaxial and monoxial scaffolds. Kartogenin (KGN), a small molecule known to promote mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSC) chondrogenesis, was loaded into the core PGS solution to generate coaxial PGS-KGN/PCL nanofibers. The KGN release kinetics and scaffold biological performance were evaluated in comparison to KGN-loaded monoaxial fibers and respective non-loaded controls. Coaxial PGS-KGN/PCL nanofibers showed a more controlled and sustained KGN release over 21 days than monoaxial PCL-KGN nanofibers. When cultured with human bone marrow MSC in incomplete chondrogenic medium (without TGF-ß3), KGN-loaded scaffolds enhanced significantly cell proliferation and chondrogenic differentiation, as suggested by the increased sGAG amounts and chondrogenic markers gene expression levels. Overall, these findings highlight the potential of using coaxial PGS-KGN/PCL aligned nanofibers as a bioactive scaffold for CTE applications.