Disease Prevention Functional Foods From The High Potential Mmp-2 Inhibition Activity Of Pineapple Juice Granule

Objective: This study aimed to compare total phenolic acid and protein contents as well as free radical scavenging, enzyme activities of fresh and fermented pineapple juice. Methods: The dried pineapple juice, prepared by freeze-drying and granulation method, with high bioactive compounds (total phenolic acid and protein contents) and biological activities (scavenging and enzyme activities) from fresh and fermented pineapple juice was developed and evaluated. The selected granules were evaluated for their stability at the 3 different temperatures for 3 mo. The pineapple juice granules were tested for the non-cytotoxic concentration by the SRB assay and Matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) inhibition activity on human skin fibroblast. Results: The pineapple juice granules, the single-coated granules of pineapple juice showed a higher percentage of yield but lower biological contents and activities than that triple-coated granules. The triple-coated granules of pineapple juice exhibited the highest total protein content (1.53±0.10 mg Bovine serum albumin equivalent (BSAE)) with scavenging activity (51.15±5.94 %), and enzyme activity (4156.18±74.78 Casein digestion unit (CDU)/mg). For gelatinolytic activity on MMP-2, the freeze-dried powder and triple-coated granules of pineapple juice indicated the highest MMP-2 inhibition activity of 50.74% and 48.48%, respectively. Conclusion: The triple-coated granules of pineapple juice could be served as a disease prevention functional food due to its easy operation, high total phenolic acid, and protein contents with high potential MMP-2 inhibition activity.

Determination of Survival Rates of Bacteria in Contaminated Fresh Fruit Juice Samples.

Aims: To determine the survival rates of bacteria in contaminated fresh fruit juice samples Place and Duration of Study: Biosciences and Biotechnology Department, Babcock University, Ilisan Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria, between November, 2012 and May, 2013. Methodology: Freshly extracted juice samples were obtained from intact pineapple (Ananas comosus Merr.) and watermelon (Citrillus lanatus Thunb.) were pasteurized before being contaminated with Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and Lactobacillus acidophilus. While the pH and the sugar contents were determined at interval after being contaminated with the bacterial strains, the contaminated juice samples were sampled for 150 min to determine colony forming unit per milliliter (cfu/ml) at different sampling time. Results: In pineapple juice, the log of concentration of E. coli was reduced from 6.452 at 0 min to 5.079 at 150min. In watermelon, the log of concentration of E. coli was reduced from 6.301 at 0min to 5.954 at 150min. While the log of concentration of L. acidophilus in pineapple juice was between 6.204 at 0 min and 6.262 at 150min, its log of concentration in watermelon juice ranged between 6.228 at 0 min and 6.291 at 150min. The pH was reduced to 2.9 and 3.7 by E. coli while L. acidophilus reduced the pH to 2.5 and 3.0 for pineapple and watermelon juices respectively. After 150min, the sugar contents of pineapple and watermelon juices decreased from 1.181 and 1.060mg/ml to 0.011 and 0.004mg/ml by the E. coli while L. acidophilus reduced the sugar contents to 0.003mg/ml for pineapple juice and 0.018mg/ml for watermelon juice. The reduction in the pH values of each of the fruit juices showed that the activities of each bacterial strain resulted in increase in the production of acid in the growth medium. Conclusion: The inability of coli form (E. coli) to survive in the fruit juices suggested that the fruit juices may not harbor and/or disseminate enteric pathogens if allowed to stay for a while before packaging.

Growth of Byssochlamys nivea in pineapple juice under the effect of water activity and ascospore age

The study of thermal resistant mould, including Byssochlamys nivea, is of extreme importance since it has been associated with fruit and fruit products. The aim of this work is to analyze the influence of water activity (a w) and ascospore age (I) on the growth of Byssochlamys nivea in pineapple juice. Mold growth was carried out under different conditions of water activity (a w) (0.99, 0.96, 0.95, 0.93, 0.90) and ascospore age (I) (30, 51, 60, 69, 90 days). Growth parameters as length of adaptation phase (λ), maximum specific growth rate (µmax) and maximum diameter reached by the colony (λ) were obtained through the fit of the Modified Gompertz model to experimental data (measuring radial colony diameter). Statistica 6.0 was used for statistical analyses (significance level α = 0.05). The results obtained clearly showed that water activity is statistically significant and that it influences all growth parameters, while ascospore age does not have any statistically significant influence on growth parameters. Also, these data showed that by increasing a w from 0.90 to 0.99, the λ value substantially decreased, while µmax and λ values rose. The data contributed for the understanding of the behavior of B. nivea in pineapple juice. Therefore, it provided mathematical models that can well predict growth parameters, also helping on microbiological control and products' shelf life determination.

Behaviour of Neosartorya fischeri Ascospores in pineapple juice

For heat-resistance derterminations, a Neosartorya fischeri ascospore suspension, obtained at three different conditions of temperature (20, 30 and 35ºC) and age (1, 2 and 3 months), was heat treated in pineapple juice with three different ratio conditions. The 1/k (min) values obtained were statistically analysed through the software Statisitca 6.0. At 80ºC, when there was a level change in the ratio factor from a lower (10) to a higher one (38), the thermal resistance (1/k) increased in approximately 41 per cent. The increase of the ascospore production age and temperature caused an increase on the thermal resistance approximately equal to 28 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively. Throufh the results, it could be concluded that N. fischeri presented lower thermal resistance for heating mediums with lower ratio values, or rather, the increase of the soluble solids concentration caused an increase of its thermal resistance. It was also observed that the ascospore production age and temperature increased significantly the thermal resistance of this mould in pineapple juice.