Effects of Premna microphylla turcz polysaccharide on rheological, gelling, and structural properties of mung bean starch and their interactions.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Premna microphylla turcz polysaccharide (PMP) on the rheological, gelling, and structural properties of mung bean starch (MBS) and their potential interaction mechanism. Results showed that the addition of PMP significantly improved the pasting properties, rheological properties, water holding capacity, and thermostability of MBS. The texture tests showed a decrease in hardness, gumminess and chewiness, indicating the retrogradation of MBS was inhibited. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) suggested the MBS-PMP composite gels expressed a denser microstructure with obvious folds and tears. Moreover, the results of X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and interaction force tests revealed the main forces between MBS and PMP were hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions to form composite gels with great gelling properties. These results facilitate the practical application of MBS and PMP, and provide some references for understanding the interaction mechanism between starch and polysaccharide.

A comparative study on the gel and structural characteristics of starch from three rice varieties when combined with Mesona chinensis polysaccharides.

Mesona chinensis polysaccharide (MCP) has excellent gel-forming characteristic, previous studies showed that MCP could affect the gelling and structural properties of rice starch, but the effect of MCP on rice starch from different types is not clarified. In this study, the effects of MCP on the pasting, rheological, and structural characteristics of glutinous rice starch (GRS), japonica rice starch (JRS), and indica rice starch (IRS) were investigated. The results showed that GRS-MCP has the best viscosity, its peak and final viscosities are higher than JRS-MCP and IRS-MCP. The gel network structure was enhanced by MCP in the order of IRS > JRS > GRS, which was reflected by greater elasticity, higher gel strength and hardness, and less free water in JRS-MCP and IRS-MCP. MCP also enhanced the ordered structure and thermal stability of the three starch gels, which is conducive to their application in the market. These findings provide new theoretical insights to produce rice starch-based foods.

Synergistic rosemary extract with TBHQ and citric acid improves oxidative stability and shelf life of peanut.

Lipid oxidation often accompanies the processing and storage of peanuts, which causes a serious waste of peanut resources. To solve the problem of being prone to oxidation in peanut processing, a ternary complex antioxidant based on rosemary extract (RE) was constructed to investigate its effect on the oxidative and thermal stability of peanuts, and the inhibition of peanut oxidation by compound antioxidants was revealed by dynamic Arrhenius formula and complexation theory. The results showed that there was a synergistic effect between RE and Tert-butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ), and the antioxidant effects of RE and TBHQ were 4.86 and 1.45 times higher when used in combination than when used alone, respectively. In addition, RE-TBHQ-CA (citric acid) effectively inhibited primary and secondary oxidation of peanuts with a shelf life 8.7 times longer than that of control peanuts. This study provides a novel antioxidant compounding idea, which has a positive effect on improving the quality of peanut and other nut products, prolonging the shelf life and reducing the waste of resources. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Compounding a complex antioxidant that permits its use in peanuts. It was found that rosemary and TBHQ might have synergistic antioxidant effects. Meanwhile, this combination of RE-TBHQ-CA effectively inhibited the oxidation of peanut oils and prolonged the shelf life of peanuts. RE-TBHQ-CA is a highly efficient complex antioxidant that can reduce the amounts of antioxidants added while maintaining high antioxidant efficiency, which may be useful for the future preservation and storage of nut products as it positively affects the quality and shelf life of the product.

Anthocyanins-natural pigment of colored rice bran: Composition and biological activities.

Rice by-products are a potential source of various bioactive substances with great processing potential, which are receiving increasing attention. Among them, rice bran is a by-product of rice milling, with high nutritional value and health benefits. Colored rice bran contains a large amount of anthocyanins responsible for color and bioactivities. And anthocyanins are often added to foods as a natural pigment, serving to enhance both the visual appeal and nutritional value. Recent advances in the composition and bioactivities of four common colored rice bran anthocyanins (black, purple, red, and purple red rice) are reviewed in this paper. Rice bran anthocyanins have been confirmed to exhibit biological potential for human health, with their main biological activities being antioxidant, anti-atherosclerosis, anti-cancer, neuroprotective, retinoprotective, immunomodulatory, anti-aging and anti-obesity effects. The structure of anthocyanins determines their biological activities. The anthocyanins composition of rice bran with different colors varied greatly, while that of rice bran with the same color is also slightly different, which is attributed to the rice varieties, growing environment and cropping conditions. However, it remains necessary to conduct further clinical studies to support the health activities of anthocyanins. The present review provides information value for the further development and comprehensive utilization of rice bran anthocyanins.

Modified porous starches loading curcumin and improving the free radical scavenging ability and release properties of curcumin.

Maize porous starch-curcumin microspheres were prepared by encapsulating curcumin into cross-linked porous starch and oxidized porous starch to investigate the effect of modified porous starch in embedding and protecting curcumin. The morphology and physicochemical properties of microspheres were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction, Zeta/DLS, Thermal stability, and antioxidant activity; the release of curcumin was evaluated with a simulated gastric-intestine model. The FT-IR results revealed that curcumin was amorphously encapsulated in the composite and hydrogen bond formation between starch and curcumin was one of the major driving forces for encapsulation. Microspheres increased the initial decomposition temperature of curcumin, which has a protective effect on curcumin. Modification improved the encapsulation efficiency and the scavenging free radical ability of porous starch. The release mechanism of curcumin from microspheres fits first-order and Higuchi models well in gastric and intestinal models, respectively, indicating that encapsulation of curcumin within different porous starches microspheres enables controlled release of curcumin. To recapitulate, two different modified porous starch microspheres improved the drug loading, slow release and free radical scavenging effects of curcumin. Among them, the cross-linked porous starch microspheres had higher encapsulation and slow release ability for curcumin than the oxidized porous starch microspheres. It provides theoretical significance and data basis for the encapsulation of active substances by modified porous starch.

Purple red rice anthocyanins alleviate intestinal damage in cyclophosphamide-induced mice associated with modulation of intestinal barrier function and gut microbiota.

The regulatory effects of purple red rice bran anthocyanins (PRBA) on intestinal barrier function and gut microbiota in mice were investigated. Results showed that PRBA had an ameliorative effect on intestinal barrier damage, including restoration of villus length, improvement in the number of cupped cells and promotion of sIgA secretion. PRBA stimulated the production of cytokines, reduced the levels of endotoxin (ET) and lipopolysaccharide binding protein (LBP) in serum, as well as upregulated the expression of tight junction proteins (TJs) and NF-κB pathway proteins. Furthermore, PRBA not only promoted the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), but also regulated the intestinal microbiota by increasing beneficial bacteria (Lachnospiraceae, Bacteroidaceae, Ruminococcaceae) and reducing pathogenic bacteria (Shigella) to maintained intestinal homeostasis. Above results indicated that PRBA could ameliorate cyclophosphamide-induced impairment of intestinal barrier function and dysregulation of the gut microbiota, which provides a new idea for broadening the exploitation of PRBA.

Phytochemical composition, antioxidant activities and immunomodulatory effects of pigment extracts from Wugong Mountain purple red rice bran.

The study was to investigate the phytochemical composition, antioxidant activities and the immunomodulatory effects on cyclophosphamide-induced (cy-induced) immunosuppressed mice of purple red rice bran pigment extracts (PRBP). The phytochemical composition of total anthocyanins, total phenolic and total flavonoid contents were evaluated. Moreover, UV-Vis, FT-IR and UPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS spectra analysis identified for the first time the presence of seventeen anthocyanins in PRBP, including five anthocyanin aglycones and twelve acetylated anthocyanins, suggesting that PRBP were a highly acylated anthocyanin profile. The DPPH, ABTS+, hydroxyl radical scavenging activity and FRAP assays showed that PRBP had excellent antioxidant activities. Further, the results of animal experiments showed that PRBP alleviated immune organ damage and recovered damaged immune function, such as preventing the reduction of body weight, spleen and thymus organ indexes, and significantly increasing the levels of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1ß in spleen which indicated that PRBP alleviated immunosuppression in Cy-induced mice. The immunomodulatory activity of PRBP was reflected by the upregulation of MAPK signaling pathways after gavage. Taken together, these results suggest that PRBP possessed a certain antioxidant and immunomodulatory abilities. These findings will lead to a better understanding of the biological properties of PRBP and broaden its utilization in food processing.

Dry heat treatment induced the gelatinization, rheology and gel properties changes of chestnut starch.

The effects of continuous dry heat treatment (CT) and repeated dry heat treatment (RT) on gel and structural properties of chestnut starch (CS) were investigated. CT and RT both reduced the swelling degree of starch and showed significant variations in pasting viscosity, viscoelasticity, gel strength and hardness varying from high to low after dry heat treatment, and CT was lower than that of RT. Neither dry heat treatment nor gelatinization produced new functional groups, and both reduced short-range ordered degree. There were significant decrease in spin-spin relaxation time (T2) with dry heat treatment (CT and RT), which made the starch in the samples closely combine with water. These results are helpful to better understand the changes of physicochemical properties of starch gel products during dry heat treatment and provide some theoretical references for the application of CS in food industry.

Preparation and characterization of hyacinth bean starch film incorporated with TiO2 nanoparticles and Mesona chinensis Benth polysaccharide.

Hyacinth bean starch (HBS) was used to prepare nanocomposite films with the reinforcement agent of nanotitanium oxide (TiO2-N) and Mesona chinensis Benth polysaccharide (MCP). The effects of TiO2-N and MCP on the moisture combination, rheological properties of film-forming solutions (FFS) and physiochemical properties of films were investigated. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed that HBS, TiO2-N and MCP had good compatibility, while no novel absorption peak in FTIR spectra, and characteristic peaks of TiO2-N were found in XRD patterns of composite films. Contact angle of HBS/TiO2-N/M3 film increased from 65.6° to 90.9°, which illustrated that TiO2-N and MCP effectively enhanced hydrophobicity of films. TiO2-N and MCP positively affected anti-UV light ability of HBS films by resisting most of invisible light. Furthermore, stable and compact network structures were formed by the synergistic effect of TiO2-N and MCP, thereby elongation to break was increased from 17.123% to 28.603% significantly, and heat resistance was enhanced clearly. This study prepared a nanocomposite HBS-based films based TiO2-N and MCP, which had guiding significance for development of functional films and combination of polysaccharides and metallic oxide.

Role of chitosan-based hydrogels in pollutants adsorption and freshwater harvesting: A critical review.

The shortage of freshwater resources is an urgent problem worldwide, especially for some areas that lack rainfall conditions. The development of reliable wastewater treatment and freshwater harvesting equipment has become an urgent demand. Hydrogel is a porous 3D network structure with good pollutant adsorption capacity, water holding capacity, water adsorption capacity, and reversible swelling ability, which has been widely used in water treatment. Chitosan (CH), as the abundant bioactive material in nature, is commonly used to prepare hydrogels with low-cost, favorable stability, good antimicrobial activity, high mechanical properties, biodegradability, and environmental friendliness. Therefore, this review presents a comprehensive review of the various applications of CH-based hydrogels in water treatment including various pollutant adsorption, oil-water separation, seawater desalination, and atmospheric condensation. The relevant mechanisms, application potential, and challenge are also illustrated. This review aims to provide a viable idea to address the shortage of freshwater resources.

Construction and characterization of Mesona chinensis polysaccharide-chitosan hydrogels, role of chitosan deacetylation degree.

A novel kind of polyelectrolyte complex hydrogels was generated through polymerization of Mesona chinensis polysaccharide (MCP) and chitosan (CH) on the basis of physical crosslinking without the addition of ionic crosslinking agents or heat. Rheological measurement, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, thermo-gravimetric analysis, and scanning electron microscopy were used to explore the properties of MCP-CH hydrogels. The effects of CH deacetylation degree (DD) on the gel properties and structural characteristics of MCP-CH hydrogels were also studied. Results showed that 0.5 % MCP and 1% CH could form stable and homogeneous hydrogels with favorable properties via electrostatic interaction. The viscoelasticity, water holding capacity, and thermostability of hydrogels were promoted with the increase in DD. The new crystallization peaks appeared with the formation of MCP-CH hydrogels. Moreover, the honeycomb-liked microstructure of MCP-CH hydrogels improved with the increase in DD. These findings may lay the foundation for the further application of MCP-CH hydrogels.

Role of salt ions and molecular weights on the formation of Mesona chinensis polysaccharide-chitosan polyelectrolyte complex hydrogel.

The effects of the addition of salt ions and molecular weights (Mw) of CH on Mesona chinensis polysaccharide (MCP)-chitosan (CH) hydrogel were investigated. Result indicated both low concentration of monovalent salt ions (Na+ and K+), divalent cations (Ca2+) and oxoanions (SO42-) could promote the gel properties of MCP-CH hydrogel. The Mw of CH has huge impact on the formation and properties of hydrogel. Combining the relationship between rheology and structural, monovalent salt ions such as Na+ and K+ affect gel formation and its properties by influencing electrostatic interaction and chain conformation. Both divalent cations (Ca2+) and oxoanions (SO42-) facilitated the formation of gel networks via electrostatic interaction, coordination bonds and hydrogen bonds. Moreover, Mw of CH influenced formation and texture of MCP-CH hydrogel via affecting the conformation of CH molecular chain. These findings will provide a few theoretical bases to understand the formation mechanism of MCP-CH hydrogel.

Effect of Mesona chinensis polysaccharide on pasting, rheological and structural properties of corn starches varying in amylose contents.

Waxy corn starch (WS), normal corn starch (NS), and high amylose corn starch (HS) were used to investigate the effect of Mesona chinensis polysaccharide (MCP) on pasting, rheological, and textual properties of corn starches. Corn starches (6 %, w/v)-MCP (0.05 %, 0.1 %, 0.2 %, 0.3 %, and 0.5 %, w/v) blended systems were used. The pasting viscosity of samples increased after adding MCP, and the improvement effect was most noticeable in WS-MCP system. Meanwhile, MCP can significantly promote the gelatinization and strengthen viscoelasticity of HS-MCP system. MCP inhibited the dissolution of NS and the swelling of WS, while promote the dissolution of HS and WS, as well as the swelling of NS and HS. Furthermore, gelatinization treatment decreased the crystallinity of samples, while high concentration of MCP slightly increased the crystallinity. MCP could promote the formation of a more ordered structure of blended systems, especially for WS-MCP system.

Recent advance in delivery system and tissue engineering applications of chondroitin sulfate.

Chondroitin sulfate (CS) is a naturally derived bioactive macromolecule and the major component of extracellular matrix (ECM), which widely distributed in various organisms and has attracted much attention due to their significant bioactivities. It is regarded as a favorable biomaterial that has been applied extensively in field of drug delivery and tissue engineering due to its property of non-poisonous, biodegradation, biocompatible and as a major component of ECM. The present article reviews the structure and bioactivities of CS, from the preparation to structure analysis, and emphatically focuses on the biomaterial exertion in delivery system and tissue engineering. At the same time, the present application status and prospect of CS are analyzed and the biomaterial exertion of CS in delivery system and various tissue engineering are also comparatively discussed in view of biomaterial development.

Physicochemical, rheological and thermal properties of Mesona chinensis polysaccharides obtained by sodium carbonate assisted and cellulase assisted extraction.

Mesona chinensis has been used as a Chinese folk medicine and main ingredient used to make "black bean jelly" in Asia for hundreds of years. In this study, two polysaccharides (MCP-C and MCP-S) from Mesona chinensis were extracted by using cellulase assisted extraction (CAE) and sodium carbonate assisted extraction (SAE), separately. Then the different physicochemical characteristics, rheological and thermal properties of two polysaccharides were analyzed by ion chromatography, high-performance gel permeation chromatography (HPGPC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), rheological and thermogravimetric analysis. Results indicated that the contents of total sugar and uronic acid of MCP-C were higher than MCP-S, while the protein content and molecular weight was lower than that of MCP-S. MCP-S and MCP-C had differences in the surface morphology by SEM, while they all had the typical IR spectra characteristic and amorphous morphology of polysaccharides. The rheological experiments showed that MCP-C and MCP-S exhibited typical pseudoplasticity fluids behavior. The apparent viscosity (η), storage modulus (G') and complex viscosity (η*) of MCP-S were higher than MCP-C. The three-stage decomposition patterns were observed in MCP-C and MCP-S. MCP-S was more stable and had higher initial decomposition temperature (Ti) than MCP-C.

Antifungal activities of anthocyanins from purple sweet potato in the presence of food preservatives.

Effects of anthocyanins from purple sweet potato (APSP) against the fungal growth of Geotrichum candidum and Candida albicans were assessed. Response surface methodology was applied for optimization of proportions of sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, and APSP. Optimum concentrations against G. candidum were 0.300 mg/mL of sodium benzoate, 0.290mg/mL of potassium sorbate, and 13.9mg/mL of APSP. Optimum concentrations against C. albicans were 0.380 mg/mL of sodium benzoate, 0.240 mg/mL of potassium sorbate, and 3.56 mg/mL of APSP. APSP exhibited enhanced antifungal properties in the presence of food preservatives.

6-Amino-9H-purine-1,7-diium bis-(4-methyl-benzene-sulfonate) monohydrate.

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C(5)H(7)N(5) (2+)·2C(7)H(7)O(3)S(-)·H(2)O, consists of one diprotonated adeninium cation, two p-toluene-sulfonic acid anions and one water mol-ecule. In the crystal, the cations and anions are connected through N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds forming R(2) (2)(8) and R(2) (2)(9) graph-set motifs. The solvent water mol-ecule links cations and anions through O-H⋯O and N-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, generating a two-dimensional layer parallel to (10).

2-tert-Butyl-6-[(4-chloro-2-nitro-phen-yl)diazen-yl]-4-methylphenol.

In the title compound, C(17)H(18)ClN(3)O(3), the dihedral angle between the planes of the two benzene rings is 1.03 (7)°. The overall conformation of the mol-ecule is influenced, in part, by electron delocalization and by an intra-molecular bifurcated O-H⋯(O,N) hydrogen bonds. The O atoms of the nitro group, one of which serves as an H bond acceptor, are disordered over two sets of sites with refined occupancies of 0.56 (3) and 0.44 (3).

2-(2-Hydroxyphenyl)-4,5-dimethyl-1H-imidazol-3-ium acetate monohydrate.

In the title compound, C(11)H(13)N(2)O(+)·C(2)H(3)O(2) (-)·H(2)O, the dihedral angle between the benzene ring and the imidazole ring is 7.83 (6)°. In the crystal structure, N-H⋯O and O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds form a two-dimensional network. All the methyl H atoms are disorderd over two sites with equal occupancies.

6-Bromo-3-hydr-oxy-4-oxo-2-phenyl-4H-chromene-8-carboxylic acid dimethyl-formamide disolvate.

In the title compound, C(16)H(9)BrO(5)·2C(3)H(7)NO, the chromene ring system is essentially planar. The two dimethyl-formamide solvent mol-ecules are linked by inter-molecular O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds to the 6-bromo-3-hydr-oxy-4-oxo-2-phenyl-4H-chromene-8-carboxylic acid molecules.