Electrohydrodynamic atomization of Balangu (Lallemantia royleana) seed gum for the fast-release of Mentha longifolia L. essential oil: characterization of nano-capsules and modeling the kinetics of release

The aim of this study is to optimize encapsulation of Mentha longifolia L. essential oil into Balangu (Lallemantia royleana) seed gum nano-capsules, to increase their utility as flavoring and bioactive agents in foods and beverages. Essential oil emulsions with Balangu seed gum (0.25 and 0.5% w/w) and various polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) concentrations (0.5, 1 and 2%) combined with Tween-20 (0.06, 0.08 and 0.1%) were electrosprayed. Increasing the concentration of PVA increased the emulsion viscosity and improved both loading capacity (77.56 to 84.68%) and encapsulation efficiency (81.54 to 87.82 %) of the essential oil within the structure of the Balangu gum nano-capsules. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) indicated that by increasing the amount of the gum (from 0.25 to 0.5%) and PVA (from 1 to 2%), the process could be made to produce nanofibers. The Mentha longifolia L. essential oil was entrapped in nanostructures without any chemical interaction with encapsulant material, this was demonstrated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. The release mechanisms and kinetics of loaded Mentha longifolia L. essential oil were evaluated in different simulated food models (aqueous, acidic, alcoholic or alkalic and oily food models) and release profiles data were fitted to first order, Kopcha, Korsmeyer-Peppas, and Peppas-Sahlin models. The essential oil release profiles fitted well to the Peppas-Sahlin model for a range of simulated foods. The release mechanism of the essential oil from the nanostructure of the Balangu seed gum is mainly controlled by the Fickian diffusion phenomenon

Equilibrium and Kinetic study of Ibuprofen Removal from Aqueous Solutions Using Modified Carbon Sesame Straw

Ibuprofen is one of the most widely used drugs in the world, which affects the health of living organisms by causing pollution in water sources. Therefore, this study was conducted with the aim of determining the effectiveness of modified carbon of straw and sesame stubble in removing ibuprofen from aqueous solutions. For this purpose, ammonium chloride, zinc chloride, and phosphoric acid were used to optimize the adsorbent. Also, the changes in the absorbent surface and its characteristics were studied using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) technique. After determining the optimal conditions of pH variables, contact time, temperature, and adsorbent dose, the surface adsorption process was investigated under three Langmuir, Freundlich, and Dubinin-Radoshkevich models. On the other hand, first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic models were used to process the adsorption data. The results showed that the surface adsorption process followed the Freundlich isotherm model pseudo-second-order kinetics. pH, contact time, initial concentration of ibuprofen, and optimal adsorbent dose were 3, 120 min, 50 mg/l, and 0.10 g/l respectively at 25°C. The results of this study showed that agricultural residues such as straw and sesame stubble can be used as effective and cost-effective adsorbents to remove the remaining pharmaceutical compounds from aqueous solutions

Millifluidic-assisted ionic gelation technique for encapsulation of probiotics in double-layered polysaccharide structure

A unique double-layered vehicle was fabricated for the first time based on a millifluidic/direct gelation to encapsulate probiotics. Free probiotic bacteria are usually very sensitive to severe gastrointestinal conditions and maintaining their survival when passing through the digestive tract is essential. The effects of alginate concentration (20–30 g/L), flow rates of alginate (0.8–1.2 mL/min), and W/O emulsion (0.5–0.7 mL/min) on encapsulation efficiency (EE), size, and sphericity of core–shell millicapsules were optimized for encapsulation of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis and Lactobacillus plantarum. The optimized calcium-alginate millicapsule was spherical (0.97 ± 0.01 SF), with an average diameter of 4.49 ± 0.19 mm, and encapsulation efficiency of 98.17 ± 0.5 %. Two strains were encapsulated separately in W/O emulsion as a core of the millicapsule. After coating with chitosan, the encapsulation yield of the bacteria, survival rates under simulated gastrointestinal (GI) conditions, and viability during storage were determined. Survival efficiency of B. animalis subsp. lactis and L. plantarum after millifluidic encapsulation were found to be 92.33 and 90.81 %, respectively. Cell viability of encapsulated probiotics after passing through the GI system was improved (7.5 log CFU mL−1 for both strains). Although the viability of the encapsulated probiotics stored at −18 °C for five months significantly decreased (p<0.05), the number of live cells was approximately in accordance with the standard definition of long-term probiotic survival (6 log CFU/g). This work provides a pathway for the construction of an innovative delivery system with high efficiency and protective effects for probiotics

Design and high-throughput implementation of MALDI-TOF/MS-based assays for Parkin E3 ligase activity

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder that manifests clinically as alterations in movement as well as multiple non-motor symptoms including but not limited to cognitive and autonomic abnormalities. Loss-of-function mutations in the gene encoding the ubiquitin E3 ligase Parkin are causal for familial and juvenile PD. Among several therapeutic approaches being explored to treat or improve the prognosis of patients with PD, the use of small molecules able to reinstate or boost Parkin activity represents a potential pharmacological treatment strategy. A major barrier is the lack of high-throughput platforms for the robust and accurate quantification of Parkin activity in vitro. Here, we present two different and complementary Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/MS)-based approaches for the quantification of Parkin E3 ligase activity in vitro. Both approaches are scalable for high-throughput primary screening to facilitate the identification of Parkin modulators

Designing a colorimetric nanosensor based on dithizone and cholesteric liquid crystals loaded in electrospun cellulose acetate nanofibers: Monitoring the quality of pistachio as a case study

We describe colorimetric electrospun nanosensors designed to work at temperatures of 35–36�C. The mode of operations is based on a combination of the ability of dithizone to exhibit appropriate color and cholesteric liquid crystals presenting a wide range of melting points at various mixing ratios. To this end, different levels of dithizone (IUPAC name 1-anilino-3-phenyliminothiourea), different ratios of cholesteric liquid crystals to cellulose acetate and cholesteryl oleyl carbonate to cholesteryl nanoate were defined as independent variables and the total color difference was considered as the response in the response surface methodology approach. The results showed that the range of color palette changes of the designed samples was diverse and could be applied to different products. As a case study, the applicability of the sensor was evaluated on the 4-month shelf life of pistachio nuts at 35�C whilst the spoilage criteria were reconciled with the color changes in the designed senso

Synthesis, Characterization and Determination of the Crystal Structure of New Cadmium Coordination Polymers Based on Bridging Schiff-Base Pyridine Ligand; Investigation of Hirshfeld Surface Analysis

Two new polymeric compounds of cadmium acetate and Schiff-base ligand 1,2-bis(1-(pyridine-4-yl)ethylydine)hydrazine, L, [Cd(OAc)2(L)]n ,(1) and [Cd(OAc)2(L)(H2O)]n , (2) were synthesized and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Structural analysis reveals that both compounds were crystallized in monoclinic crystal system with P21/c and I2/a space group respectively. Coordination polymer 1 was synthesized by solvent evaporation method in dimethyl sulfoxide and has one-dimensional ladder like structure. Coordination polymer 2 was prepared by solvent diffusion method in the mixture of methanol and water solvent and its crystal structure was assembled from one-dimensional linear chains. Also the influence of effective interactions in the crystal packing of prepared compounds and the value of their contributions were investigated by Hirshfeld surface analysis

Double protection of probiotics in alginate hydrogel through emulsification incorporated with freeze drying and coaxial wet-electrospraying:Survivability and targeted delivery

Two probiotic strains were co-encapsulated in water in oil emulsion by two methods: (1) coaxial wet electrospraying and (2) freeze-drying methods. Optimization of the wet electrospray technique for maximum yield, minimum sphericity factor, and size resulted in an alginate concentration of 2.99% w/v, flow rates ratio of alginate to the emulsion of 4.81, and applied voltage of 10 kV. The cell viability of Lactobacillus plantarum PTCC 1896 was the same after both encapsulation techniques, while the freeze-drying method was more impressive (97.25%) than the coaxial electrospraying (86.46%) in maintaining the viability of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. Lactis. Exposing electrospray-encapsulated probiotics to simulated gastrointestinal conditions for 4 h resulted in only a one logarithmic cycle decrease in the viability of both bacteria. The number of live cells remained at more than 108 CFU g−1. In contrast, the viability of freeze-dried probiotics was reduced to about 107 CFU g−1. The freeze-dried B. lactis was the most sensitive probiotic to simulated gastric conditions. Monitoring the viability of bacteria during storage at −18 °C for both wet electrospraying and freeze-drying methods showed that the number of living microorganisms was more than 6 Log CFU g−1 after 5 and 4 months, respectively

Elaboration of a MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry-based Assay of Parkin Activity and High-Throughput screening platform for Parkin Activators

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder that manifests clinically as alterations in movement (bradykinesia, postural instability, loss of balance, and resting tremors) as well as multiple non-motor symptoms including but not limited to cognitive and autonomic abnormalities. Mitochondrial dysfunction has been linked to sporadic PD and loss-of-function mutations in genes encoding the ubiquitin E3 ligase Parkin and protein kinase, PTEN-induced kinase 1 (PINK1), that regulate mitophagy, are causal for familial and juvenile PD1-3. Among several therapeutic approaches being explored to treat or improve PD patient’s prognosis, the use of small molecules able to reinstate or boost Parkin activity represents a potential pharmacological treatment strategy4. A major barrier is the lack of high throughput platforms based on robust and accurate quantification of Parkin activity in vitro. Here we present two different and complementary Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization-Time of Flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) based approaches for the quantification of Parkin E3 ligase activity in vitro. These methods recapitulate distinct aspects of ubiquitin conjugation: Parkin auto-ubiquitylation and Parkin-catalysed discharge on lysine residues. Both approaches are scalable for high-throughput primary screening to facilitate the identification of Parkin modulators.<br/