Cristina Sánchez

The effects of manothermosonication on tomato pectic enzymes and tomato paste rheological properties

The effect of manothermosonication (MTS), the simultaneous application of heat and high energy ultrasound waves under moderate pressure, on tomato juice rheology and on tomato pectinmethylesterase (PME) and polygalacturonase (PG) activity in tomato juice was examined. Tomato juice was subjected to MTS treatments (20 kHz, 2 kg pressure, 117 μm amplitude and 70 °C), or to control thermal treatments (TT), for 1 min. Flow curves, yield stress and apparent viscosity were measured on both kind of samples. Apparent viscosity of MTS samples were 1.6-fold higher than that of TT samples. Yield stress values were also 2.2-fold higher in MTS than in TT samples. Flow curve values were fitted to the power law equation; MTS samples showed about 1.9-fold higher consistency values and lower flow indexes, n=0.190 vs. n=0.126, than TT samples. MTS samples retained about 20% more serum than TT samples after centrifugation. TT inactivated about 38% of the initial PME activity whereas PME activity was undetectable in MTS-treated tomato juice. TT left PG unaffected whereas MTS treatments inactivated 62% of total PG activity. These results suggest, that MTS could be an useful technology to obtain high viscosity and consistency tomato juice.

Determination of bile acids in human serum by on-line restricted access material–ultra high-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

This paper describes a new, fully automated on-line method combining restricted access material (RAM) extraction and ultra high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) with mass spectrometric (MS) detection for determining congeners of bile acids (BAs) in human serum. In this method, low-pressure RAM and high-pressure UHPLC-MS are hyphenated by using a 2.5-mL loop-type interface. The compatibility problem between the large volume (1.2mL) of strong solvent (methanol) used for RAM elution and the need for a weak solvent in UHPLC injection has been addressed by using an auxiliary pre-column cross-flow of 0.1% aqueous formic acid. In this way, the complete 2.5mL loop volume can be injected into the UHPLC system, thereby maximizing sensitivity while maintaining good chromatographic performance. The optimised method allows the simultaneous analysis of 13 bile acids in a single run, including glycine- and taurine-conjugated bile acids, cholic acid (CA), deoxycholic acid (DCA), chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA), ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), and litocholic acid. The complete analysis of a 100-microL single serum sample is performed in 30 min, providing detection limits in the pg range (corresponding with clinically relevant concentration levels) for all of the analytes except lithocholic acid, intra-day precision values (%R.S.D.) below 4% (except ursodeoxycholic acid) and inter-day precision lower than 15% (except ursodeoxycholic, glycoursodeoxycholic acid (GUDCA) and lithocholic acid).

New Approach to Study the Mechanism of Antimicrobial Protection of an Active Packaging

This article reports on the antimicrobial efficiency of a new active packaging concept based on the use of two essential oils (cinnamon and oregano) and their chemical descriptors (cinnamaldehyde, thymol, and carvacrol) against the Gram-positive bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, the Gram-negative bacterium Salmonella choleraesuis, the yeast Candida albicans, and the mold Aspergillus flavus. Complete inhibition of these microorganisms with either bactericidal or bacteriostatic effect has been demonstrated. It has been proven that the inhibition provided by these solutions is related not to the total amount of the active chemical released but to the amount of active compounds that reach the agar surface at a critical time. This critical time is notably related with the duration of the lag phase, as demonstrated for the bacteria, and shows that kinetic behavior has a critical role in the antimicrobial properties of the active packaging. Two different active films, polypropylene and the complex polyethylene-ethylenvynil alcohol, have been studied and a higher efficiency was found for polypropylene, mainly because of the mentioned kinetic reasons. These results can be used to understand the mechanism of action of the chemicals and provide valuable data for the development of the active packaging concept.