Overview on Innovative Packaging Methods Aimed to Increase the Shelf-Life of Cook-Chill Foods.

The consumption of meals prepared, packaged, and consumed inside and outside the home is increasing globally. This is a result of rapid changes in lifestyles as well as innovations in advanced food technologies that have enabled the food industry to produce more sustainable and healthy fresh packaged convenience foods. This paper presents an overview of the technologies and compatible packaging systems that are designed to increase the shelf-life of foods prepared by cook-chill technologies. The concept of shelf-life is discussed and techniques to increase the shelf life of products are presented including active packaging strategies.

Metal cation induced cubic phase in poly(ethylene glycol)-functionalized dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine aqueous dispersions.

Metal cations (Mn(2+) or Ca(2+)) in aqueous dispersions of mixtures of dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE) and poly(ethylene glycol)-functionalized DOPE (DOPE-PEG(350)) induce, above a certain amount of the PEG lipid component, a phase transition from the inverted hexagonal phase H(II) to the bicontinuous inverted cubic phase Q(224) with space group Pn3m. The process is driven by the decrease of free elastic energy due to the Gaussian curvature of the cubic phase. The structural characterization of the phase behavior over the whole explored range of DOPE-PEG/DOPE weight ratio (3-25%) is reported, focusing on the role of the metal cation in the formation of the 3D cubic lattice. This result may represent a significant progress toward a design-based approach to drug delivery.

Exploiting CD38-mediated endocytosis for immunoliposome internalization.

CD38 appears to be a promising candidate in antibody therapy; it is upregulated on cell surfaces in many lymphoid tumors and undergoes rapid internalization after interaction with antibodies. The receptor-mediated endocytosis allows conjugating toxins/drugs that promote suicide only of the malignant cells. Here, we describe the preparation of CD38-immunoliposomes and test their functionality by incubating them with CD38+/- cells. Liposomes were prepared by extrusion of a lipid mixture containing a biotinylated polyethylene glycol-phospholipid and loaded with 5(6)-carboxyfluorescein. The anti-CD38 antibody (IB4) was biotinylated and then linked to streptavidin molecules; streptavidin acts like a bridge between the antibody and the biotinylated lipid of the liposomes. CD38+/- cells were incubated either with liposomes or immunoliposomes and analyzed by fluorescence microscopy and cytofluorimetry. The results indicated a specific mechanism of internalization, owing to CD38-mediated endocytosis, where CD38+ cells incubated with immunoliposomes scored top fluorescence levels. This coupling strategy, based on the use of a streptavidin bridge to prepare immunoliposomes, does not interfere with the cellular functionality and its broad potential use represents a great advantage. Here IB4, a murine monoclonal anti-CD38 antibody, was used to simplify the experiments, but the coupling procedure may be suitable also with human antibodies, against CD38 or other human markers.

Michael addition of chloroalkyloxazolines to electron-poor alkenes: synthesis of heterosubstituted cyclopropanes.

Lithiated 2-(1-chloroethyl)-4,4-dimethyl-2-oxazoline 7 adds to electron-poor alkenyl heterocycles to afford substituted cyclopropanes in excellent yields. A route to chiral nonracemic heterosubstituted cyclopropanes, starting from optically active 2-chloromethyl-2-oxazolines, is highlighted as well.