Gordon A. Morris

The effect of inulin and fructo-oligosaccharide supplementation on the textural, rheological and sensory properties of bread and their role in weight management: A review.

There is evidence that fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) and inulin can impart a range of health benefits if consumed on a regular basis. The health benefits include increased mineral absorption and improved immune response and while there is mounting evidence that prebiotics play a role in colorectal cancer prevention, their role of satiety and weight management is still being investigated. In this review we look at the evidence published so far on FOS or inulin supplementation and weight management. We also establish whether prebiotic enriched breads are feasible in terms of dough machinability, bread characteristics and consumers acceptance. Addition of inulin to bread generally resulted in smaller loaves with a harder crumb and darker colour. The limited sensory studies on those products reflect those findings and acceptability decreased with inulin content. However, a fortification of 5% seems achievable. Despite evidence that yeast invertase and dry heat degrade inulin, the extent to which this is the case and whether the prebiotics maintain their activity is not known. There is still a great deal of work to be done to establish whether a bread prepared with enough inulin to retain a significant activity can be manufactured without compromising consumer acceptance.

Pectic polysaccharides from Biophytum petersianum Klotzsch, and their activation of macrophages and dendritic cells.

The Malian medicinal plant Biophytum petersianum Klotzsch (Oxalidaceae) is used as a treatment against various types of illnesses related to the immune system, such as joint pains, inflammations, fever, malaria, and wounds. A pectic polysaccharide obtained from a hot water extract of the aerial parts of B. petersianum has previously been reported to consist of arabinogalactans types I and II (AG-I and AG-II), probably linked to a rhamnogalacturonan backbone. We describe here further structural characteristics of the main polysaccharide fraction (BP1002) and fractions obtained by enzymatic degradations using endo-alpha-d-(1-->4)-polygalacturonase (BP1002-I to IV). The results indicate that in addition to previously reported structures, rhamnogalacturan type II and xylogalacturonan areas appear to be present in the pectic polymer isolated from the plant. Atomic force microscopy confirmed the presence of branched structures, as well as a polydisperse nature. We further tested whether the BP1002 main fraction or the enzymatically degraded products could induce immunomodulating activity through stimulation of subsets of leukocytes. We found that macrophages and dendritic cells were activated by BP1002 fractions, while there was little response of T cells, B cells, and NK cells. The enzymatic treatment of the BP1002 main fraction gave important information on the structure-activity relations. It seems that the presence of rhamnogalacturonan type I is important for the bioactivity, as the bioactivity decreases with the decreased amounts of rhamnose, galactose, and arabinose. The demonstration of bioactivity by the plant extracts might indicate the mechanisms behind the traditional medical use of the plant.

Advances on Bioactive Polysaccharides from Medicinal Plants

In recent decades, the polysaccharides from the medicinal plants have attracted a lot of attention due to their significant bioactivities, such as anti-tumor activity, antioxidant activity, anticoagulant activity, antidiabetic activity, radioprotection effect, anti-viral activity, hypolipidemic and immunomodulatory activities, which make them suitable for medicinal applications. Previous studies have also shown that medicinal plant polysaccharides are non-toxic and show no side effects. Based on these encouraging observations, most researches have been focusing on the isolation and identification of polysaccharides, as well as their bioactivities. A large number of bioactive polysaccharides with different structural features and biological effects from medicinal plants have been purified and characterized. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the most recent developments in physiochemical, structural features and biological activities of bioactive polysaccharides from a number of important medicinal plants, such as polysaccharides from Astragalus membranaceus, Dendrobium plants, Bupleurum, Cactus fruits, Acanthopanax senticosus, Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels, Aloe barbadensis Miller, and Dimocarpus longan Lour. Moreover, the paper has also been focused on the applications of bioactive polysaccharides for medicinal applications. Recent studies have provided evidence that polysaccharides from medicinal plants can play a vital role in bioactivities. The contents and data will serve as a useful reference material for further investigation, production, and application of these polysaccharides in functional foods and therapeutic agents.

Various Non-Injectable Delivery Systems for the Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes mellitus (diabetes) is suffered by more than 180 million people and is responsible for approximately 2.9 million deaths each year. This mortality rate is expected to increase by 50 % in the next decade. Due to the inconvenience of the traditional treatment of diabetes by subcutaneous administration of insulin injection, various attempts are made in the production, purification, formulation and methods of delivery of insulin. However, despite advances in recent years, these attempts have met with limited success. Various alternative routes such as rectal, ocular, nasal, pulmonary and oral have been exploited. The pulmonary route offers great potential for the delivery of polypeptide drugs due to the large surface area for insulin absorption in the respiratory tract. But due to its low bioavailability, oral route is intensely investigated for the insulin delivery. Microencapsulation, as one of the delivery systems utilising oral route, has shown some potential progress in insulin delivery; though it is at an early stage yet it has proved to be quite encouraging providing new less toxic immunosuppressive agents. Microencapsulation may prove to be an attractive delivery system for controlled release of insulin and beneficial for therapeutic, bio-efficient and bio-effective drug delivery. In this review we discuss the possible alternative routes for insulin delivery (ocular, nasal, pulmonary and oral) and advantages and disadvantages of each. Furthermore we consider the different drug delivery strategies available (aerosols, dry powder inhalers, synthetic beta cells, hydrogels and microcapsules) and their current and potential applications with respect to the different insulin delivery routes.

An experimental design approach to the chemical characterisation of pectin polysaccharides extracted from Cucumis melo Inodorus

Extracted pectins have been utilised in a number of applications in both the food and pharmaceutical industries where they are generally used as gelling agents, thickeners and stabilisers, although a number of pectins have been shown to be bioactive. These functional properties will depend upon extraction conditions. A statistical experimental design approach was used to study the effects of extraction conditions pH, time and temperature on pectins extracted from Cucumis melo Inodorus. The results show that the chemical composition is very sensitive to these conditions and that this has a great influence on for example the degree of branching. Higher temperatures, lower pHs and longer extraction times lead to a loss of the more acid labile arabinofuranose residues present on the pectin side chain. The fitting of regression equations relating yield and composition to extraction conditions can therefore lead to tailor-made pectins for specific properties and/or applications.

Impact of health claims in prebiotic-enriched breads on purchase intent, emotional response and product liking

Abstract The impact of health claims on purchase intent, emotional response and liking has never been previously reported. In this study, prebiotic-enriched bread was used as a model functional food. Purchase intent, emotional response and liking were investigated in three phases: (1) focus groups were used to gauge consumer perception of health claims and functional foods, (2) the impact of health claims on purchase intent and emotional responses were measured using an online survey (n = 122) and (3) hedonic ratings on bread rolls presented with or without any associated claims were obtained (n = 100). A cluster analysis of the purchase intent data identified two clusters of consumers who were either receptive or non-receptive to health claims. Receptive and non-receptive consumers significantly differed in the emotions they reported with respect to the claims. The hedonic ratings did not significantly differ between the breads tasted with or without health claims.

Structural characterisation and rheological properties of a polysaccharide from sesame leaves (Sesamum radiatum Schumach. & Thonn.)

A polysaccharide from the leaves of Sesamum radiatum was extracted by maceration in deionized water followed by ethanol precipitation then chemically and physically characterised. Monosaccharide composition and linkages were determined by high performance anion exchange chromatography (HPAEC), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy respectively. Sesamum gum was composed of glucuronic acid, mannose, galactose, and xylose with trace quantities of glucose, rhamnose and arabinose. Proton and (13)C NMR spectroscopy, and linkage analysis revealed a glucuronomannan based structure comprising a backbone of →4)-β-d-GlcpA-(1→2)-α-d-Manp-(1→ with side-chains of galactose and xylose. Hydrated sesamum gum displayed temperature independent viscoelastic properties with no thermal hysteresis. Intrinsic viscosity was determined to be 3.31 and 4.40dLg(-1) in 0.1M NaCl and deionised water respectively, while the critical concentration was determined to be 0.1% w/v. The characterisation performed in this study will help direct potential applications of this material in foods and pharmaceuticals.

A novel method to estimate the stiffness of carbohydrate polyelectrolyte polymers based on the ionic strength dependence of zeta potential.

Polysaccharides have received a great deal of attention from, for example, the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. Their conformations (flexibility/stiffness) span a wide range of conformational flexibilities with large hydrated volumes, these properties are important in relation to polysaccharide structure-function relationships. Perhaps the simplest parameter available to estimate the dilute solution conformation of polysaccharides is the Smidsrød-Haug stiffness parameter (B) where the stiffness of polyelectrolytes can be estimated by measuring the intrinsic viscosity at a number of different ionic strengths. In this paper we propose an alternative method for estimating the Smidsrød-Haug stiffness parameter (B) using the ionic strength dependency of zeta potential. For this purpose we have studied a number of different polysaccharides.

A glycoconjugate of Haemophilus influenzae Type b capsular polysaccharide with tetanus toxoid protein: hydrodynamic properties mainly influenced by the carbohydrate

Three important physical properties which may affect the performance of glycoconjugate vaccines against serious disease are molar mass (molecular weight), heterogeneity (polydispersity), and conformational flexibility in solution. The dilute solution behaviour of native and activated capsular polyribosylribitol (PRP) polysaccharides extracted from Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), and the corresponding glycoconjugate made by conjugating this with the tetanus toxoid (TT) protein have been characterized and compared using a combination of sedimentation equilibrium and sedimentation velocity in the analytical ultracentrifuge with viscometry. The weight average molar mass of the activated material was considerably reduced (Mw ~ 0.24 × 106 g.mol−1) compared to the native (Mw ~ 1.2 × 106 g.mol−1). Conjugation with the TT protein yielded large polydisperse structures (of Mw ~ 7.4 × 106 g.mol−1), but which retained the high degree of flexibility of the native and activated polysaccharide, with frictional ratio, intrinsic viscosity, sedimentation conformation zoning behaviour and persistence length all commensurate with highly flexible coil behaviour and unlike the previously characterised tetanus toxoid protein (slightly extended and hydrodynamically compact structure with an aspect ratio of ~3). This non-protein like behaviour clearly indicates that it is the carbohydrate component which mainly influences the physical behaviour of the glycoconjugate in solution.

Latent Fingerprint Enhancement Using Tripolyphosphate-Chitosan Microparticles

Chitosan has been widely used in the preparation of microparticles for drug delivery; however, it has not been considered in forensic applications. Tripolyphosphate- (TPP-) chitosan microparticles were formed using ionotropic gelation in the presence of a coloured dye and deposited onto latent fingerprints enabling fingerprint identification.