RESUMEN
Barbatimão (Stryphnodendron adstringens) is a Brazilian medicinal plant known for its pharmacological properties, including healing activity related to its phenolic composition, which is chiefly given by tannins. In order to preserve its stability and bioactivity, barbatimão extracts can be incorporated into (bio-)polymeric matrixes, of which silk fibroin stands out due to its versatility and tunable properties. This work aimed to obtain barbatimão bark extract rich in phenolic compounds and evaluate its incorporation in fibroin hydrogels. From the extraction process, it was observed that the PG (propylene glycol) extract presented a higher global yield (X0) and phenolic compounds (TPC) than the ET (ethanol) extract. Furthermore, the antioxidant activity (ORAC and FRAP) was similar between both extracts. Regarding the hydrogels, morphological, chemical, thermal, and mechanical characterizations were performed to understand the influence of the barbatimão extract and the solvent on the fibroin hydrogel properties. As a result, the hydrogels containing the barbatimão PG extract (BT/PG hydrogels) showed the better physical-chemical and structural performance. Therefore, these hydrogels should be further investigated regarding their potential in medical and pharmaceutical applications, especially in wound healing.
RESUMEN
In the last decades, different non-thermal and thermal technologies have been developed for food processing. However, in many cases, it is not clear which experimental parameters must be reported to guarantee the experiments' reproducibility and provide the food industry a straightforward way to scale-up these technologies. Since reproducibility is one of the most important science features, the current work aims to improve the reproducibility of studies on emerging technologies for food processing by providing guidelines on reporting treatment conditions of thermal and non-thermal technologies. Infrared heating, microwave heating, ohmic heating and radiofrequency heating are addressed as advanced thermal technologies and isostatic high pressure, ultra-high-pressure homogenization sterilization, high-pressure homogenization, microfluidization, irradiation, plasma technologies, power ultrasound, pressure change technology, pulsed electric fields, pulsed light and supercritical CO2 are approached as non-thermal technologies. Finally, growing points and perspectives are highlighted.
