Malin Sjöö

Characterization of starch Pickering emulsions for potential applications in topical formulations

The aim of this work has been to characterize starch based Pickering emulsions as a first step to evaluate their possible use as vehicles for topical drug delivery. A minor phase study of emulsions with high oil content has been performed. Emulsion stability against coalescence over eight weeks and after mild centrifugation treatment has been studied. The particle size, rheological properties and in vitro skin penetration of emulsions containing three different oils (Miglyol, paraffin and sheanut oil) was investigated. It was shown that it is possible to produce oil in water starched stabilised Pickering emulsions with oil content as high as 56%. Furthermore, this emulsions show good stability during storage over eight weeks and towards mild centrifugation. The particle size of the systems are only dependent on the ratio between oil and starch and for liquid oils the type of oil do not affect the particle size. The type of oil also affects the cosmetic and rheological properties of the creams but did not affect the transdermal diffusion in in vitro tests. However, it seems as if the Pickering emulsions affected the transport over the skin, as the flux was twice that of what has been previously reported for solutions.

Quinoa starch granules: a candidate for stabilising food-grade Pickering emulsions.

BACKGROUND Particle-stabilised emulsions, so-called Pickering emulsions, are known to possess many beneficial properties, including being extremely stable. Starch granules isolated from quinoa have been used as emulsion stabilising particles. The granules were intact, 1-3 µm in diameter and modified with octenyl succinic anhydride to increase their hydrophobicity. Starch granules, as opposed to most other particles used to generate Pickering emulsions, are edible, abundant and derived from natural sources. RESULTS Emulsions produced by high shear homogenisation had droplet sizes of 9-70 µm depending on the starch-to-oil ratio. Droplet size decreased with increasing starch-to-oil ratio, but was unaffected by the oil phase volume over a range of 5-33% oil (v/v). Although the drops were large and subject to creaming, their size remained unchanged over a period of 7 days. By adjusting the starch-to-oil ratio drops could be made to be buoyancy neutral to prevent creaming. Rheological characterisation indicated a gel structure with an elastic modulus in the range 200-2000 Pa depending on droplet size. CONCLUSION This work has demonstrated the successful use of starch granules to stabilise emulsions which may find applications beyond that of food, for example in cosmetics and pharmaceutical formulations.

Gelatinization and retrogradation of potato (Solanum tuberosum) starch in situ as assessed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)

The thermal behavior of potato starch in situ has been studied and compared to properties of isolated starch. Gelatinization and retrogradation properties were studied by differential scanning calorimetry. One early and three late varieties with different degree of mealiness were examined. The early variety (Solanum tuberosum var. Rocket) had lower dry matter content and lower starch gelatinization temperature than the later varieties (var. Asterix, Bintje and King Edward). Samples from distinct parts of the potato tuber were analysed to compare the tissue zones. The starch in the water-rich pith appeared to gelatinize at a higher temperature than in samples from the outer parts of the tuber. This was seen for isolated starch as well as for starch in situ; however, the differences were more pronounced in situ. To investigate the influence of tuber size, samples were taken from stem end storage parenchyma. No influence of tuber size on the starch gelatinization properties was detected by the method used. Retrogradation properties were also studied for stem end storage parenchyma. Melting temperatures of recrystallized amylopectin did not differ between varieties, though there were small differences in rate of recrystallization as measured by changes in melting transition enthalpy with time.

Emulsion stabilizing capacity of intact starch granules modified by heat treatment or octenyl succinic anhydride

Starch granules are an interesting stabilizer candidate for food-grade Pickering emulsions. The stabilizing capacity of seven different intact starch granules for making oil-in-water emulsions has been the topic of this screening study. The starches were from quinoa; rice; maize; waxy varieties of rice, maize, and barley; and high-amylose maize. The starches were studied in their native state, heat treated, and modified by octenyl succinic anhydride (OSA). The effect of varying the continuous phase, both with and without salt in a phosphate buffer, was also studied. Quinoa, which had the smallest granule size, had the best capacity to stabilize oil drops, especially when the granules had been hydrophobically modified by heat treatment or by OSA. The average drop diameter (d32) in these emulsions varied from 270 to 50 μm, where decreasing drop size and less aggregation was promoted by high starch concentration and absence of salt in the system. Of all the starch varieties studied, quinoa had the best overall emulsifying capacity, and OSA modified quinoa starch in particular. Although the size of the drops was relatively large, the drops themselves were in many instances extremely stable. In the cases where the system could stabilize droplets, even when they were so large that they were visible to the naked eye, they remained stable and the measured droplet sizes after 2 years of storage were essentially unchanged from the initial droplet size. This somewhat surprising result has been attributed to the thickness of the adsorbed starch layer providing steric stabilization. The starch particle-stabilized Pickering emulsion systems studied in this work has potential practical application such as being suitable for encapsulation of ingredients in food and pharmaceutical products.

Quinoa starch granules as stabilizing particles for production of Pickering emulsions

Intact starch granules isolated from quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) were used to stabilize emulsion drops in so-called Pickering emulsions. Miglyol 812 was used as dispersed phase and a phosphate buffer (pH7) with different salt (NaCl) concentrations was used as the continuous phase. The starch granules were hydrophobically modified to different degrees by octenyl succinic anhydride (OSA) or by dry heat treatment at 120 degrees C in order to study the effect on the resulting emulsion drop size. The degree of OSA-modification had a low to moderate impact on drop size. The highest level of modification (4.66%) showed the largest mean drop size, and lowest amount of free starch, which could be an effect of a higher degree of aggregation of the starch granules and, thereby, also the emulsion drops stabilized by them. The heat treated starch granules had a poor stabilizing ability and only the starch heated for the longest time (150 min at 120 degrees C) had a better emulsifying capacity than the un-modified native starch granules. The effect of salt concentration was rather limited. However, an increased concentration of salt slightly increased the mean drop size and the elastic modulus.

Barrier properties of heat treated starch Pickering emulsions

HYPOTHESIS There is a recognized technological need for delivery systems encapsulating lipophilic substances in food and pharmaceutical products. Pickering emulsions can provide well-defined and highly stable systems, but may not provide good enough barrier properties. Starch granules, recently being used for Pickering stabilization, have the advantage of the ability to swell during gelatinization. Hence, this property could be used to tune and control barrier properties. EXPERIMENTS Oil-in-water Pickering emulsions stabilized by starch were subject to heat treatment at different conditions. The influence of temperature, time, and storage on emulsion drop characteristics was evaluated. In order to further evaluate the barrier properties, lipolysis using the pH-stat method was applied and the effect of starch concentration, treatment temperature, and preliminary oral conditions were also investigated. FINDINGS A better encapsulating barrier was obtained by starch swelling at the oil drop interface. This was seen as reduced lipase activity. The internal oil drop size remained intact and the starch was kept at the interface during heat treatment. The extent of swelling could be controlled by the heating conditions and had impact on the ability to prevent lipase transport through the starch barrier layer. Addition of α-amylase simulating oral digestion only had minor impact on the barrier effect.

Fibre-rich additives-the effect on staling and their function in free-standing and pan-baked bread.

BACKGROUND The use of dietary fibre in bread products is increasing because of consumer demand for healthier products. However, an increase in dietary fibre level changes the rheological properties of the dough and also the quality properties of the final bread product. In this study, effects on dough and bread staling were followed after replacing 3% of wheat flour by fibre-rich additives (fine durum, oat bran, rye bran and wheat bran). Free-standing and pan-baked loaves were baked to compare the influence of baking method and loaf shape. RESULTS All additives increased dough stability, with oat bran giving the greatest stability and longest development time. Parameters measured during storage were distribution, migration and loss of water, cutability, crumbliness, firmness and springiness. Furthermore, amylopectin retrogradation and amylase-lipid complex formation were assessed. Oat bran provided similar or better results than the control for all staling parameters, while other additives gave no general improvements. Cutability reached a plateau when crumb firmness was ≥ 4 N. CONCLUSION Small amounts of fibre-rich additives had a significant influence on staling. However, the baking method (free-standing or pan-baked bread) had a greater impact on staling than the additives, thus displaying the importance of the baking method. Cutability was found to be related to firmness.

The use of micro- and nanoparticles in the stabilisation of pickering-type emulsions for topical delivery.

This review describes the use of Pickering emulsions for topical drug delivery. The focus is on Pickering emulsions and how to formulate these. However, a short description of the challenges of topical drug delivery is also given. The article describes how Pickering emulsions might have other properties than traditional topical creams. It is our believe that Pickering emulsions could give added value to topical formulations as it is surfactant free, has new properties, and may alter the transport of drugs across the skin barrier.

Preparation and Characterization of Starch Particles for Use in Pickering Emulsions

Particle-stabilized emulsions, called Pickering emulsions, can be produced by using starch particles. In this work we studied how the properties of the starch particles affect the droplet size and creaming of such emulsions. In the study, various sizes of starch particles were generated by two different methods and used to stabilize Pickering emulsions. Sedimentation according to Stokes’ law was used to separate small and large starch granules. Acid hydrolysis was another method used to obtain smaller particles. All samples were modified with octenyl succinic anhydride (OSA) to increase their hydrophobicity with a level of OSA substitution between 1.8 and 3.1%. The size of starch particles was the main factor influencing emulsion droplet sizes. Furthermore, the droplet size decreased as the starch concentration increased. Using small starch particles with sizes 10 μm. When subjected to acid hydrolys...

Staling Effects When Adding Low Amounts of Normal and Heat-Treated Barley Flour to a Wheat Bread

ABSTRACT The properties of a white wheat bread could be changed by adding normal or heat-treated barley flour in small amounts (2 and 4%) to a white wheat bread recipe. Differences regarding gelatinization as well as retrogradation properties were found when analyzing the two flours in model systems. The heat-treated flour was fully gelatinized due to prior time, temperature, and pressure treatment and could therefore absorb larger amounts of water than the other flours. In gelatinized model systems with 40% flour (dwb), the heat-treated barley flour contained less retrograded amylopectin as compared with normal barley flour after storage for up to 14 days, whereas no differences were found with 20% flour (dwb). However, stored breads showed an increased retrogradation of amylopectin (as measured by differential scanning calorimetry [DSC]) when 2% pretreated barley flour was added as compared with addition of 2% normal barley flour. On the other hand, there were no significant differences at the 4% level....