Effect of low-frequency high-intensity ultrasound (HIU) on the physicochemical properties of chickpea protein.

The aim of this study was to improve the functional properties of chickpea protein for its potential application in the food industry. The effects of low frequency high intensity ultrasound (HIU) at different power (0-300 W) and time (15-30 min) on the rheological properties, gelation, thermal stability, solubility and microstructure of chickpea protein were tested and analyzed. Based on the analysis, it was found that HIU caused the disruption of non-covalent bonds between protein chains leading to the unfolding of chickpea. The HIU-treated chickpea isolate protein aggregates were smaller and more uniformly dispersed, with increased orderly structure, thermal stability, and exposure of hydrophobic and charged groups originally buried in the interior. The experimental results also showed that the effect of HIU did not become more pronounced with increasing power and time, as the power exceeding 150 W for 30 min led to the formation of new polymers by the interactions between the exposed non-covalent groups, which were more ordered and homogeneous than those without HIU.

Effect of high pressure homogenization treatment on the rheological properties of citrus peel fiber/corn oil emulsion.

BACKGROUND: Citrus fiber is a main component in the peel of citrus and contains natural dietary fiber. It is often used as a functional additive to improve the texture or nutritional property of food. It is also widely used to reduce the content of absorbable fat in sausages and other meat products, and to improve food stability as an emulsifier. In this research, the dynamic rheological properties (linear and non-linear) of citrus peel fiber/corn oil (CF/CO) emulsion system under high pressure homogenization (HPH) treatment was investigated. RESULT: Rheological results illustrated HPH treatment significantly increased the apparent viscosity of the emulsion, reduced the activation energy of the emulsion and distinctly improved the viscoelasticity of the emulsion. Meanwhile, HPH treatment increased the linear viscoelastic region of the sample, and the behavior of the emulsion converted from strain thinning (without HPH treatment) to weak strain overshoot (with HPH treatment). Lissajous curves indicated the viscosity of the sample increased first and then decreased with strain increasing and the third harmonic contributed much more to the first harmonic compared with the fifth harmonic. Chebyshev stress decomposition revealed that, as strain increased, the samples with HPH treatment showed internal-cycle strain hardening behavior first, then turned to internal-cycle softening behavior. CONCLUSION: HPH treatment can significantly improve the processing performance of CF/CO emulsion as well as the stability against large periodic oscillations in food processing. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

Effect of miR-301a/PTEN pathway on the proliferation and apoptosis of cervical cancer.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the miR-301a/PTEN pathway in cervical cancer. miR-301a and PTEN expression were measured by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) in tissues samples and HeLa cells. PTEN protein level was determined by Western blotting. Dual reporter luciferase assay was performed to validate PTEN as a direct target of miR-301a. The gain- and loss-of function assay was performed by miR-301a overexpression and silencing. Cell proliferation was monitored by cell counting Kit-8 (CCK-8). Cell apoptosis was quantitated by flow cytometry. SPSS was used to analyze the significant difference in the treatments. miR-301a demonstrated a significantly higher expression in cervical carcinoma tissues compared with the paired non-carcinoma tissues ( n = 12), while PTEN expression was found to be significantly lower in cervical carcinoma tissues than their paired non-carcinoma tissues ( n = 12). In addition, PTEN was identified as the direct target of miR-301a. Moreover, overexpression of miR-301a significantly promoted HeLa cells proliferation and anti-apoptosis which had a reverse pattern after PTEN overexpression. Our results confirm PTEN as a direct target of miR-301a in HeLa cells and suggest that miR-301a/PTEN pathway contributes to the development and progression of cervical cancer.