Biomedical subjects

I T Norton

Publications and source records attributed to I T Norton.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2002

Micellar casein gelation at high sucrose content.

This article investigates the effect of sucrose addition on the formation of casein gels by acidification and/or renneting of pure micellar casein. Gelation kinetics and gel properties were followed by rheological methods, and microscopy and syneresis measurements were used to obtain a more complete characterization of the structures formed. Sucrose content has been identified as a key parameter for controlling the kinetics of aggregation and the strength of the final gels. Results have shown that the effect of sucrose on gelation can vary such that effects can be completely reversed depending on the gelation route used. During acid gelation, addition of up to 30% (wt/wt) sucrose causes gels to form more rapidly and at higher pH values, and to have higher viscoelastic moduli and a more homogeneous microstructure than those without sucrose. By contrast, gels formed by renneting in the presence of sucrose are weaker and have longer gelation times. It is proposed that sucrose reduces solvent quality and causes the collapse of the "hairy" kappa-casein brush on the surface of the casein micelles. This may explain why sucrose increases the possibility of gel formation during acidification and reduces the degree of kappa-casein hydrolysis during renneting.

Caseins↗

PubMed2001

Simulation of endo-PG digest patterns and implications for the determination of pectin fine structure.

Novel stepwise approaches to the calculation of enzyme digest patterns are described and used in the validation of a computer simulation. Results obtained using the simulation show that, while a previously proposed model of endo-PG action captures some of the salient features of this enzymes behaviour, it is not sufficient to successfully predict experimental digest patterns from pectic substrates. Subsequently, it has been shown that a modified model incorporating existing information regarding subsite architecture and speculative site tolerances for esterified residues, goes someway towards improving the situation.

Computer Simulation↗

PubMed2001

Gelation behaviour of konjac glucomannan with different molecular weights.

The deacetylation and gelation of konjac glucomannan (KGM) following alkali addition was investigated by Fourier transform infrared, while the rheological properties of KGM with different molecular weights were studied by dynamic viscoelastic measurements in shear mode and penetration force tests. It was found that gelation occurred after significant deacetylation had taken place. Rheometrical studies revealed that KGM with different molecular weights exhibited different gelation characteristics in small amplitude oscillatory shear flow. For the samples of fractionated KGM with lower molecular weights, a decrease in both the storage shear modulus (G') and loss shear modulus (G") was observed during gelation at temperatures above 75 degrees C. It is suggested that the decrease results from the wall slip between sample and measuring geometry owing to a rapid gelation process with syneresis and/or disentanglement of molecular chains adsorbed on the surface of parallel plates from those located in the bulk. Penetration force tests were employed to confirm the occurrence of slippage and thereby no decreases in rigidity of samples were observed during gelation. For the native KGM samples decreases in G' and G" during gelation were not observed, and it is suggested that this is due to the effect of the higher molecular weight and increased solution viscosity of these samples on the gelation kinetics.

Acetylation↗

PubMed2001

Influence of thermal history on the structural and mechanical properties of agarose gels.

Using a multitechnique approach, two temperature domains have been identified in agarose gelation. Below 35 degrees C, fast gelation results in strong, homogeneous and weakly turbid networks. The correlation length, evaluated from the wavelength dependence of the turbidity, is close to values of pore size reported in the literature. Above 35 degrees C, gelation is much slower and is associated with the formation of large-scale heterogeneities that can be monitored by a marked change in the wavelength dependence of turbidity and visualised by transmission electron microscopy. Curing agarose gels at temperatures above 35 degrees C, and then cooling them to 20 degrees C, produces much weaker gels than those formed directly at 20 degrees C. Dramatic reductions in the elastic modulus and failure strain and stress are found in this case as a result of demixing during cure. An interpretation, based on the kinetic competition between osmotic forces (in favor of phase separation) and elastic forces (that prevent it) is proposed.

Elasticity↗

PubMed2001

Gelation of casein-whey mixtures: effects of heating whey proteins alone or in the presence of casein micelles.

The aim of the present work was to investigate the role of whey protein denaturation on the acid induced gelation of casein. This was studied by determining the effect of whey protein denaturation both in the presence and absence of casein micelles. The study showed that milk gelation kinetics and gel properties are greatly influenced by the heat treatment sequence. When the whey proteins are denatured separately and subsequently added to casein micelles, acid-induced gelation occurs more rapidly and leads to gels with a more particulated microstructure than gels made from co-heated systems. The gels resulting from heat-treatment of a mixture of pre-denatured whey protein with casein micelles are heterogeneous in nature due to particulates formed from casein micelles which are complexed with denatured whey proteins and also from separate whey protein aggregates. Whey proteins thus offer an opportunity not only to control casein gelation but also to control the level of syneresis, which can occur.

Animals↗

PubMed2001

Dynamic experimentation on the confocal laser scanning microscope: application to soft-solid, composite food materials.

Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) is used to follow the dynamic structural evolution of several phase-separated mixed biopolymer gel composites. Two protein/polysaccharide mixed gel systems were examined: gelatin/maltodextrin and gelatin/agarose. These materials exhibit 'emulsion-like' structures, with included spherical particles of one phase (i.e. polymer A) within a continuous matrix of the second (i.e. polymer B). Compositional control of these materials allows the phase order to be inverted (i.e. polymer B included and polymer A continuous), giving four basic variants for the present composites. Tension and compression mechanical tests were conducted dynamically on the CLSM, with crack/microstructure interactions investigated using a notched compact tension geometry. Gelatin/maltodextrin composites exhibit a 'pseudo-yielding' stress/strain response in both tension and compression, when the gelatin-rich phase is continuous, which was attributed to debonding of the particle/matrix interface. This behaviour is significantly less apparent for both the gelatin/agarose composites, and the maltodextrin continuous gelatin/maltodextrin composites, with these materials responding in a nominally linear elastic manner. Values of the interfacial fracture energy for selected compositions of the two biopolymer systems were determined by 90 degrees peel testing, where a gelatin layer was peeled from either a maltodextrin or agarose substrate. For biopolymer layers 'cast' together, a value of 0.2 +/- 0.2 J m-2 was obtained for the fracture energy of a gelatin/maltodextrin interface, while a significantly higher value of 6.5 +/- 0.2 J m-2 was determined for a gelatin/agarose interface. The interfacial fracture energy of the two mixed systems was also determined following an indirect elastomer composite debonding model. An interfacial fracture energy of approximately 0.25 J m-2 was determined using this approach for the gelatin continuous gelatin/maltodextrin composite, which compares favourably with the value calculated directly by peel testing (i.e. approximately 0.2 J m-2). A somewhat higher value was estimated for the gelatin continuous gelatin/agarose system (1.0-2.0 J m-2), using this model, although there are severe limitations to this approach for this mixed gel system. In the present case, it is believed that the differing mechanical response of the two mixed biopolymer systems, when the gelatin phase is continuous, arises from the order of magnitude difference in interfacial fracture energy. It is postulated that polymer interdiffusion may occur across the interface for the gelatin/agarose system, to a significantly greater extent than for interfaces between gelatin and maltodextrin, resulting in a higher interfacial fracture energy.

Biopolymers↗

PubMed2000

A molecular description of the gelation mechanism of konjac mannan.

A molecular level description of the time course of the gelation of the polysaccharide konjac mannan (KM) is presented and the role of alkali addition is considered in detail. NMR relaxometry is utilized as a complementary methodology to mechanical spectroscopy in order to probe events occurring as a prelude to network formation, and high-resolution NMR is used to follow the deactetylation process. It is shown that the addition of alkali plays an important solubilizing role in addition to facilitating the deacetylation of the chain. Deacetylation is important both in reducing the inherent aqueous solubility of the polymer and in progressively negating the alkali-induced polyelectrolytic nature of the polysaccharide chain via reaction induced pH changes. It is proposed that observed induction periods following alkali addition (during which the elastic modulus does not rise) are not simply deacetylation delays but are related to the aggregation kinetics of the deacetylated material.

Algorithms↗

PubMed1999

A molecular model for the formation and properties of fluid gels.

The effects of biopolymer gelation in a shear field are discussed. Gel particles are produced if the gelation mechanism involves an aggregation step. Particular attention is paid to the molecular events of ordering and aggregation upon cooling, investigating the differences in such processes as a result of shearing during gelation. A model is proposed which follows the conception of the particles, their growth, physical properties and stability.

Biopolymers↗

PubMed1993

Ultrastructural evidence for intramolecular double stranding in iota-carrageenan.

Kinetic studies of primary processes of conformational ordering in gel-forming biopolymers have suggested that a change in mechanism from intermolecular to intramolecular multistrand formation occurs on lowering the concentration of biopolymer. We report here ultrastructural observations consistent with intramolecular double stranding in a carbohydrate polymer, iota-carrageenan, by arresting this process of primary conformational ordering by an ultra-rapid freeze fixation technique. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed isolated iota-carrageenan chains showing a range of morphologies (linear, circular, and hairpin) consistent with intramolecular stranding. Control experiments in which iota-carrageenan was frozen in the disordered form revealed longer and thinner strands.

Carbohydrate Conformation↗

PubMed1984

Mechanism and dynamics of conformational ordering in xanthan polysaccharide.

The thermally induced order-disorder transition of xanthan (extracellular bacterial polysaccharide from Xanthomonas campestris) has been investigated by optical rotation, differential scanning calorimetry, stopped-flow reaction kinetics and low-angle laser light scattering, and the results have been analysed in terms of Zimm -Bragg helix-coil transition theory. The reciprocal of the transition midpoint temperature (Tm) varies linearly with the logarithm of cation (K+) the salt dependence of Tm, is in agreement with Manning polyelectrolyte theory the ordered structure. The associated increase in cation binding, calculated from the salt dependence of tm, is in agreement with the Manning polyelectrolyte theory for one of the candidate structures from X-ray diffraction, a 5(1) single helix stabilized by packing of side-chains along the polymer backbone, but not for the alternative double-helix structure that has also been proposed. At each salt concentration, the two fundamental parameters of the Zimm -Bragg theory, s and sigma, were calculated. The equilibrium constant for growth of the ordered structure (s) is derived directly from calorimetric measurement of transition enthalpy (delta Hcal ), and sigma, which quantifies the relative instability of the helix nucleus, is derived from the ratio of delta Hcal to the apparent transition enthalpy (delta Happ ) obtained by van't Hoff analysis of the optical rotation data. The temperature course of conformational ordering calculated theoretically is in good quantitative agreement with experimental results from both optical rotation and scanning calorimetry. The calculated average length of stable, ordered chain-sequences increases with decreasing temperature, but equals or exceeds the total chain length from light scattering only at temperatures more than approximately equal to 70 K below Tm, suggesting that ordered and disordered regions may co-exist within the same xanthan molecule. Consistent with this interpretation, the observed rate of conformational ordering increases sharply under conditions where the starting solution for dynamic measurements is partially ordered, suggesting that ordered sequences within each chain may act as helix nuclei for adjacent disordered regions, so that helix growth, rather than the slower nucleation process, becomes rate limiting.

Calorimetry, Differential Scanning↗