Removal of Cu (II) by ion exchange resin and its re-utilization of the residual solution from the distilled Lycium barbarum wine.

In order to re-utilize the residual from the distillation of the Chinese wolfberry wine and reduce the environmental pollution, the residual is firstly filtered by the ceramic membrane of 50 nm, then the Cu (II) has transferred from the distillation is removed using the ion exchange resin, and the treated solution is recombined with the distilled liquor to make the Chinese wolfberry brandy and the comparison has conducted on the physicochemical properties, antioxidant activity and flavor compounds between the recombined brandy and the finished brandy. The results indicate that the Cu (II) was effectively removed by ceramic membrane combined with the D401 resin. Compared with finished brandy, the recombined brandy contains high contents of polysaccharides, phenols and flavonoids, thus contributing to the improvement of antioxidant capacity. The gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS) reveals that 25 volatile compounds like esters and alcohols have identified in the brandy samples, and the differences are significant between the recombined and the finished brandy. In summary, the distilled residual from the Chinese wolfberry wine might be re-used after the appropriate treatment so as to reduce the discharge and environmental pollution.

Encapsulation of Benzaldehyde Produced by the Eco-Friendly Degradation of Amygdalin in the Apricot Kernel Debitterizing Wastewater.

In order to fully utilize the by-products of apricot kernel-debitterizing and address the chemical instability of benzaldehyde in the food industry, benzaldehyde was first prepared by adding the apricot kernel powder to degrade the amygdalin present in the apricot kernel-debitterizing water. Subsequently, ß-cyclodextrin was employed to encapsulate the benzaldehyde, and its encapsulation efficacy was evaluated through various techniques including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, release kinetics fitting inhibitory effect and the effect on Botrytis cinerea. Finally, the encapsulation was explored via molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations. The results indicate that the optimal preparation conditions for the benzaldehyde were 1.8 h, 53 °C and pH 5.8, and the encapsulation of benzaldehyde with ß-cyclodextrin (wall-core ratio of 5:1, mL/g) has been verified by the deceleration in the release rate, the enhanced thermal stability and the prolonged inhibition effect against Botrytis cinerea. The encapsulation proceeded spontaneously without steric hindrance in the simulation, which led to a reduction in the hydrophobic cavity of ß-cyclodextrin. In conclusion, the amygdalin in the debitterizing wastewater can be degraded in an eco-friendly way to produce benzaldehyde by adding apricot kernel powder, which contains ß-glucosidase; the encapsulation of benzaldehyde is stable, thus enhancing the utilization of amygdalin in the debitterizing wastewater of apricot kernels.

Effects of ultrasound on the immunoreactivity of amandin, an allergen in apricot kernels during debitterizing.

In this paper, an investigation was conducted on the effects of ultrasound time, power and temperatures on the immunoreactivity of the allergenic amandin in apricot kernels by western blotting analysis during the ultrasonically accelerated debitterizing. And its influencing mechanism on the structure of amandin was also analyzed by SDS-PAGE, circular dichroism spectrum, extrinsic fluorescence spectrum, surface hydrophobicity and zeta potential determination, respectively. The results indicate that ultrasound could significantly reduce the immunoreactivity of amandin during ultrasonically accelerated debitterizing, and the optimal ultrasound condition was 60 min, 300 W, 55 °C and 59 kHz and decreased the immunoreactivity to 15.61%, which might be attributed to the changes of the protein subunits, secondary and tertiary structure, and molecular aggregation state induced by ultrasound. In a word, ultrasound could not only accelerate debitterizing, but also significantly decrease the immunoreactivity of apricot kernels, which proved the feasibility of ultrasound in practical processing of apricot kernels.

The state-of-the-art research of the application of ultrasound to winemaking: A critical review.

As a promising non-thermal physical technology, ultrasound has attracted extensive attention in recent years, and has been applied to many food processing operation units, such as involving filtration, freezing, thawing, sterilization, cutting, extraction, aging, etc. It is also widely used in the processing of meat products, fruits and vegetables, and dairy products. With regard to its application in winemaking, most of the studies available in the literature are focused on the impact of ultrasound on a certain characteristic of wine, lacking of systematic sorting of these literatures. This review systematically summarizes and explores the current achievements and problems of the application of ultrasound to the different stages of winemaking, including extraction, fermentation, aging and sterilization. Summarizing the advantages and disadvantages of ultrasound application in winemaking and its development in future development.

Comparison of ultrasound irradiation on polymeric coloration of flavan-3-ols bridged by acetaldehyde and glyoxylic acid in model wine solution.

The influence and its mechanism of ultrasound on acetaldehyde/glyoxylic acid competing bridged the polymerization coloration of flavan-3-ols in model wine solution were investigated by high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) and kinetics and thermodynamic model. The results indicate that ultrasound could significantly accelerate the polymerization coloration and further modify wine color. In addition, the polymerization reaction conformed first-order reaction model, and the reaction rate constant (k) values were markedly increased by ultrasound, accelerating the coloration reaction, especially in the model wine containing glyoxylic acid. Besides, the polymerization processing was non-spontaneous and endothermic according to the thermodynamic analysis. In conclusion, ultrasound was indeed conducive to accelerate glyoxylic acid/acetaldehyde-bridged the polymerization of flavan-3-ols and further effect the wine color, which could provide a theoretical basis for the scientific analysis of the mechanism of ultrasound modifying wine color.

Effects of Ultrasound Irradiation on the Co-Pigmentation of the Added Caffeic Acid and the Coloration of the Cabernet Sauvignon Wine during Storage.

In this paper, experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of ultrasound irradiation on the co-pigmentation of caffeic acid added in wine and the coloration of wine during storage. The wine color, chroma, level of the monomeric, combined and polymerized anthocyanins and the concentrations of malvidin-3-O-glucoside and syringic acid in wines were determined by the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, respectively. The results indicate that ultrasound irradiation could definitely affect the color characteristic of wine to a certain extent. Compared with the wine without addition of caffeic acid, the co-pigmentation effects of wine added with caffeic acid could be significantly promoted by ultrasound irradiation, such as the wine color, color density and the polymerized anthocyanins. Furthermore, ultrasound irradiation had a continuous effect on the co-pigmentation of caffeic acid and wine coloration with the extended storage time. In summary, ultrasound could significantly modify the color properties of wine by enhancing the co-pigmentation between caffeic acid and monomeric anthocyanins in the wine, resulting in the improvement of wine quality.

Roles of free radical on the formation of acetaldehyde in model wine solutions under different ultrasound parameters: A key bridge-link compound for red wine coloration during ageing.

In order to explore the effects of ultrasound on the formation of acetaldehyde and its mechanism in model wine solutions, ultrasound conditions and free radicals were investigated by response surface methodology and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR), respectively. The results indicate that ultrasound does induce the production of acetaldehyde with the maximum amount under the conditions of ultrasound power density 0.2 W/cm2, 48 min and 32 °C. The hydroxyl radicals and the 1-hydroxyethyl free radicals are the main initiator and precursor for acetaldehyde, respectively. Furthermore, the stronger the 1-hydroxyethyl free radicals captured by EPR, the lower the formation of acetaldehyde. In addition, the content of Fe2+and ethanol also exerted a certain influence on the acetaldehyde formation. In conclusion, ultrasound does promote the production of acetaldehyde in the model wine solutions, which is beneficial for well understanding the mechanism of ultrasound in modifying the wine color and accelerating ageing.

Effects of cold plasma treatment on cherry quality during storage.

Cherry samples were treated with cold plasma under different voltages (40, 60, 80 kV) and different treatment durations (60, 80, 100, 140 s), then stored in a refrigerator at 0 ℃. Data on the decay rate, respiration rate, and physiological properties of the cherries and their correlational relationships after different treatments of cold plasma were collected under the conditions of ambient temperature and dry air. The decay rate, respiration rate, total soluble solids, total phenol, flavonoids, anthocyanin, VC, titratable acidity, firmness, and a* value were investigated at regular intervals to analyze the quality of the cherries under different treatment conditions. Additionally, the total colony number was estimated at the end of storage. The results indicated that cold plasma treatment under moderate conditions was effective for prolonging cherry storage, inactivating microorganisms, decreasing the decay rate, and inhibiting respiration with either no compromise on the cherry quality or only a slightly noticeable influence. A significant positive correlation was found between the decay rate and respiration rate, as well as between the VC content and titratable acidity. Antioxidant contents and firmness were found to be negatively correlated with the a* value. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that cold plasma has potential applications in the storage and preservation of cherries.

Co-Pigmentation of Caffeic Acid and Catechin on Wine Color and the Effect of Ultrasound in Model Wine Solutions.

OBJECTIVE: Wine color is considered an important indicator in judging red wine quality and is also employed to evaluate wine aging. However, wine color can be influenced by many factors. METHOD: In this paper, it was investigated that the effects of caffeic acid and catechin on wine color and related mechanisms by HPLC and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy for the wine model solutions containing malvidin-3-O-glucoside. The spectrum changes of the model wine solutions (Mv-glc, Mv-glc + caffeic acid, and Mv-glc + catechin) during 120 days storage were monitored to analyze the influence of co-pigmentation on red wine color. RESULTS: The results indicate that the color properties of red wine could be affected by caffeic acid and catechin to a certain extent. Moreover, caffeic acid had a stronger auxiliary color effect on the malvidin-3-O-glucoside than that of the catechin in the model wine solutions, and the former effect continued to increase with prolongation of storage time. The latter effect (catechin) only had a temporary auxiliary color effect in the beginning, and weakened from red to orange yellow with increased storage time. Furthermore, ultrasound irradiation improved co-pigmentation, resulting in the modification of wine color. CONCLUSIONS: All results indicate that the co-pigmentation reaction of wine color could be modified by the addition of caffeic acid and ultrasonic treatment to improve the quality of red wine.

Effects of ultrasound irradiation on the properties of apricot kernels during accelerated debitterizing.

In this paper, studies were conducted to investigate the effects of ultrasonically accelerated debitterizing on the physicochemical properties of apricot kernels, such as color, texture, oil content, protein characteristics and amino acids, with UV-Vis spectroscopy, synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism, electrophoresis, environmental scanning electron microscopy, and thermal property analysis. The results indicate that the novel debitterizing technique has insignificant influences on the oil and protein contents of apricot kernels; meanwhile, the color, texture and activity of beta-glucosidase were substantially improved, greatly contributing to the quality modification and shortening the debitterizing time. In addition, ultrasound greatly influenced the amino acid contents and compositions, the fluorescence spectra and the thermal properties of the apricot kernel proteins. In a word, all these results greatly contribute to our understanding of the debitterizing mechanism mediated by ultrasound irradiation and further prove the feasibility of this novel debitterizing technique in the practical processing of apricot kernels.

Ultrasound as an effective technique to reduce higher alcohols of wines and its influencing mechanism investigation by employing a model wine.

In this paper, in order to investigate the effects of ultrasound irradiation on the higher alcohols of wines, the parameters including ultrasound time, temperature and power were optimized by the response surface methodology, and the model wine solution was employed to explore the mechanism of ultrasonically decreasing the higher alcohols. The results indicate that the maximum decreasing of higher alcohols could be obtained under the ultrasound conditions of 30 min, 30 °C and 150 W, and the final content was 306.75 mg/L with the reduction rate of 40.44%, suggesting a modification of wine quality due to the negative effects of excessive contents on wine. Regarding the results of model wine, it indicates that the decrease could be definitely affected by factors, such as tartaric acid and ions in wine, which might be attributed to the free radicals generated from ultrasound cavitation and its subsequent reactions. In summary, all the results may help to understand the effects of ultrasound irradiation on improving the sensory properties of wine by decreasing the higher alcohols.

Changes of amygdalin and volatile components of apricot kernels during the ultrasonically-accelerated debitterizing.

Ultrasound has been regarded as an efficient novel technique for debitterizing of the apricot kernels, but its influence is severely concerned on the possible epimerization of d-amygdalin to the l-amygdalin, a more potentially toxigenic compound. Considering this, the experiments were conducted to investigate the epimerization of d-amygdalin and the volatile components in the debitterizing water, which were separated and identified by the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography with a mass spectrometer (GC-MS), respectively. The results indicate that the ultrasonically-debitterizing did not cause the epimerization of d-amygdalin to the l-amygdalin, while the procedure can be greatly accelerated due to the rapid mass transfer and degradation of d-amygdalin induced by ultrasound irradiation. In addition, the water from the ultrasonically-debitterizing of apricot kernels exerted more aromas compared with that of the conventional debitterizing, which might have more applications about this kind of water. In a word, ultrasound can be safely applied in the debitterizing industry of apricot kernels.

Optimization of ultrasound parameters and its effect on the properties of the activity of beta-glucosidase in apricot kernels.

In this paper, ultrasound was used as an auxiliary tool to activate the activity of beta-glucosidase (beta-GC) in apricot kernels, and its parameters were optimized to evaluate the effects on the beta-GC activity with the response surface methodology (RSM), variables including ultrasonic time, temperature, power and frequency. The results indicate that the obtained quadratic regression model could simulate the actual conditions, and the optimum conditions were as follows: exposure time of 31 min, temperature 50 °C, power 225 W and frequency 28 kHz, and the activity of beta-GC achieved 3.64 × 105 U/g·apricot kernel (dry weight), having an increase of 34.67% compared to the untreated beta-GC. In addition, the changes of the beta-GC properties demonstrated that ultrasound did improve the activity of beta-GC by influencing the beta-GC's properties of fluorescence, circular dichroism, thermal property, etc. All these results would contribute to understand the mechanism of the rapid debitterizing of apricot kernels accelerated by ultrasound.

Effect of ultrasound on the production of xanthylium cation pigments in a model wine.

As a potential novel technique in the wine-making industry, ultrasound has received considerable attention. In this paper, a model wine system was constructed to investigate the effect of ultrasonic irradiation on the formation of xanthylium cation pigment derived from the (+)-catechin and the glyoxylic acid, an oxidation product of tartaric acid, so as to explore the changing mechanism of the wine color mediated by ultrasound. The results indicate that the long-term ultrasonic treatment can enhance the formation of the xanthylium cation pigment in the model wine, which is attributed to free radicals triggered by ultrasound, meanwhile, iron ions and oxygen can influence the ultrasonic effect. All these results suggest that ultrasound is promising to be employed in regulating the formation of the yellow pigment during wine aging thus modifying the wine organoleptic characteristic.

miR-34 increases in vitro PANC-1 cell sensitivity to gemcitabine via targeting Slug/PUMA.

miR-34 was deregulated in tumor tissues compared with corresponding noncancerous tissue samples. Furthermore, miR-34 may contribute to cancer-stromal interaction associated with cancer progression. However, whether miR-34 could decrease chemoresistance of cancer cells to chemotherapeutic agent remains unclear. In our study, we examined whether overexpression of miR-34 could sensitize gemcitabine -mediated apoptosis in human pancreatic cancer PANC-1 cells. We found that miR-34 markedly induced gemcitabine -mediated apoptosis in PANC-1 cells. miR-34 induced down-regulation of Slug expression and upregulation of p53 up-regulated modulator of apoptosis (PUMA) expression. The over-expression of Slug or downregulation of PUMA by Slug cDNA or PUMA siRNA transfection markedly blocked miR-34-induced gemcitabine sensitization. Furthermore, miR-34 induced PUMA expression by downregulation of Slug. Taken together, our study demonstrates that miR-34 enhances sensitization against gemcitabine-mediated apoptosis through the down-regulation of Slug expression, and up-regulation of Slug-dependent PUMA expression.

Effect of ultrasound irradiation on the evolution of color properties and major phenolic compounds in wine during storage.

In this paper, the effects of ultrasound irradiation were investigated on the evolution of color properties and major phenolic compounds during wine storage. The results indicate that the changing trends of color parameters are very similar in both the ultrasonically-treated and untreated wines, meanwhile the evolutions of malvidin-3-O-glucoside, monomeric flavan-3-ols and phenolic acids also demonstrate some similar patterns in all wines during storage, respectively. In summary, the ultrasound irradiation does not only temporally influence the color characteristics and phenolic compounds of wine, but also have a longer effect on their evolutions during wine storage. Furthermore, the ultrasonically-treated wine had a quicker changing trend than that of the untreated wine regarding the studied parameters. All these results indicate that the ultrasound might be as a feasible and promising novel technology for wineries to produce more red wines with the similar quality as the traditionally-aged wine in a shorter time.

Ions in Wine and Their Relation to Electrical Conductivity Under Ultrasound Irradiation.

Change in electrical conductivity is considered a potential indicator for the on-line monitoring of wine aging accelerated by ultrasound, as determined in our previous study; however, the exact mechanism of change is currently unclear. In this study, the ion content and the total ionic strength were analyzed by ion-exchange chromatography to investigate the change mechanism of the electrical conductivity of wine under ultrasound irradiation. The results indicate that the changes in wine electrical conductivity during ultrasound treatment correlate with the changes in the cations (Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, and NH4+) and in the anions from the organic acids (malic acid, citric acid, tartaric acid, oxalic acid, and formic acid) and inorganic acids (Cl-, SO42-, and PO43-), especially for the ionic strength of the wine. Overall, electrical conductivity may be used to reflect the chemical reactions related to wine aging to a certain extent because the reactions can be initiated by the conversion of cations and by the degradation or auxiliary function of organic acids.

Effect of ultrasound on the interaction between (-)-epicatechin gallate and bovine serum albumin in a model wine.

Ultrasound is considered as a potential novel technique for improving the quality of some wines. In this paper, a model wine firstly was constructed with the standards of (-)-epicatechin gallate (ECG) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) as target compounds. Then, the experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of ultrasonic irradiation on the binding properties between ECG and BSA including quenching mechanism, binding parameters, binding forces, energy transfer distance and conformational changes determined by spectral analysis. The results indicate that ultrasound definitely has some regular effects on the binding interaction of BSA and ECG, and can induced the conformation variation of BSA in the simulated wine, which may suggest that the ultrasound might be employed to modify the wine organoleptic property by regulating the interaction between phenolic compounds and proteins from the autolysis of yeasts, since they are similar to the standards of ECG and BSA, respectively.

Antioxidant Evaluation and Composition Analysis of Extracts from Fuzhuan Brick Tea and Its Comparison with Two Instant Tea Products.

In this paper, the antioxidant capacities and compositions of two commercialized tea products and extracts from Fuzhuan brick tea (FBT) were investigated using three HPLC methods comparing the retention times of injected standards. Principal component analysis and DPPH-spiking HPLC analysis were used to analyze correlation between antioxidant capacity and the compounds detected to screen which compounds contribute to antioxidant activity. Results indicated that all samples contained high amounts of polysaccharides, phenols, and flavonoids and had good antioxidant activity and a high level of correlation among them. Furthermore, gallic acid, epigallocatechin, epicatechin, and epigallocatechin gallate were screened and found to be stronger antioxidant candidates. In summary, the quality of the FBT extracts was not inferior to that of commercialized tea products, suggesting the feasibility that extracts may directly act as instant tea products.

Optimization of Pyrogallol Autoxidation Conditions and Its Application in Evaluation of Superoxide Anion Radical Scavenging Capacity for Four Antioxidants.

In this study, some factors influencing pyrogallol autoxidation, including EDTA, temperature, and solvent, were systematically investigated to improve its feasibility in the evaluation of antioxidants for the first time. Subsequently, the improved pyrogallol autoxidation conditions were used to assess the superoxide anion scavenging activity (SASA) of four commonly used antioxidants, namely, ascorbic acid, rutin, catechin, and gallic acid, by both the reaction rate method and the terminated method. The results indicate that pyrogallol autoxidation could be successfully used to determine the antioxidant capacity of ascorbic acid and rutin, which correspondingly suggests the feasibility of its use to measure the superoxide anion radical scavenging activity of polysaccharides and flavonols, because these compounds have a similar basic structural unit as ascorbic acid and rutin, respectively. Unexpectedly, however, pyrogallol autoxidation cannot be used to evaluate the SASA of catechin and gallic acid, although their good antioxidant capacity was confirmed by the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl assay. Together, these results suggest the importance of noting the conditions used for pyrogallol autoxidation when assessing the SASA of targeted compounds.