Alignment-Rheology Relationship of Biosourced Rod-Like Colloids and Polymers under Flow.

Fluids composed of biosourced rod-like colloids (RC) and rod-like polymers (RP) have been extensively studied due to various promising applications relying on their flow-induced orientation (e.g., fiber spinning). However, the relationship between RC and RP alignment and the resulting rheological properties is unclear due to experimental challenges. We investigate the alignment-rheology relationship for a variety of biosourced RC and RP, including cellulose-based particles, filamentous viruses, and xanthan gum, by simultaneous measurements of the shear viscosity and fluid anisotropy under rheometric shear flows. For each system, the RC and RP contribution to the fluid viscosity, captured by the specific viscosity ηsp, follows a universal trend with the extent of the RC and RP alignment independent of concentration. We further exploit this unique rheological-structural link to retrieve a dimensionless parameter (ß) directly proportional to ηsp at zero shear rate (η0,sp), a parameter often difficult to access from experimental rheometry for RC and RP with relatively long contour lengths. Our results highlight the unique link between the flow-induced structural and rheological changes occurring in RC and RP fluids. We envision that our findings will be relevant in building and testing microstructural constitutive models to predict the flow-induced structural and rheological evolution of fluids containing RC and RP.

Microfluidics-based production of chitosan-gellan nanocomplexes encapsulating caffeine.

Electrostatic complexes produced by interactions between polysaccharides have promising applications in the medical, pharmaceutical and food fields. In this light, for the development of such particles, microfluidics emerges as a promising technique in which processes occur at a strict laminar flow regime, allowing diffusion-dominated transport and particle formation in highly-controlled conditions. As a proof of concept, we compared bulk versus microfluidic (different devices simulating a range of residence times) processes for the production of electrostatic complexes of gellan with either chitosan (molecular weight âˆ¼ 28 kDa) or hydrolyzed chitosan (molecular weight âˆ¼ 3 kDa). Regardless of the process, polysaccharide solutions (pH 4.5) were mixed in pre-defined concentrations (polysaccharide ratios) to form electrostatic complexes that were used to encapsulate caffeine. These complexes were characterized by zeta potential measurements and particle size distribution. Overall, microfluidics produced complexes with improved characteristics such as lower polydispersity index (PDI âˆ¼ 0.1) and mean size (∼200 nm) when compared to the conventional bulk process (PDI âˆ¼ 0.3 and mean size âˆ¼ 400 nm). Moreover, hydrolyzed chitosan (HC) contributed to an even smaller size and PDI value of the complexes. Such outcome is associated with the lower molecular weight and higher solubility of HC when comparing to conventional chitosan, which in turn improves electrostatic complexation. Caffeine could also be encapsulated in all complexes, but the highest encapsulation efficiency was achieved using microfluidics (70%) and with the geometry that provided a longer residence time. Therefore, we were able to demonstrate that microfluidics is clearly an effective strategy for generating electrostatic complexes with improved properties. Ultimately, this technique demonstrated a high potential for the production of vehicles of bioactive compounds.

In vitro digestibility of gellan gels loaded with jabuticaba extract: Effect of matrix-bioactive interaction.

Jabuticaba is a native Brazilian fruit rich in phenolic compounds as anthocyanins, showing several benefits for human health but a high sensibility to physicochemical digestion conditions. Gellan is a biopolymer that could be used as a material to protect and carry bioactive compounds, since this polysaccharide is resistant to gastric pH conditions. In this context, gellan gels containing jabuticaba extract were produced using two different ionic strength values (adding calcium ions), which resulted in varied structures. These gels were subjected to two different in vitro digestion processes, modifying the type of mechanical forces applied to simulate stomach and intestine movement conditions. Anthocyanins release (by pH differential method), mechanical properties, confocal and light microscopy of gels were evaluated during in vitro digestibility. Results showed that jabuticaba extract exerted effect on gels mechanical-structural properties, since an increase of stress at rupture (hardness) and a decrease of strain at rupture (deformability) were observed only in gels without calcium addition. Although all gellan gels have improved anthocyanins retention during simulated gastrointestinal digestion process, gels without calcium were more efficient. Our results demonstrated that gellan gels could act as good carriers for anthocyanins, but their efficiency is dependent on the matrix composition, demonstrating that specific studies should be accomplished to determine which changes may occur in the matrix after bioactive addition. Furthermore, our results showed that the type of mechanical forces applied during in vitro digestion is an important variable, since the use of compression (a more similar-to-in vivo system) rather than shear forces increased the release of anthocyanins.

Role of process variables on the formation and in vitro digestion of gellan gels.

Gellan gels were produced using different approaches forming structures with varied potential applications. Gels were characterized from appearance, mechanical properties, water holding capacity (WHC) and microstructure. In addition, in vitro digestibility of these gels was evaluated to understand the effect of gastrointestinal environment on their structure stability. All gels presented high WHC (>80% w/w) but gels were stronger with salt or acid addition, which was associated to the reduction of double helices repulsion of the negatively charged carboxyl groups of gellan. Moreover, low gelation rate induced a more controlled gellan helices aggregation, strengthening even more gels structure. Gellan gels presented resistance to digestion conditions but hardness of these gels during digestion mainly depended on the gelation rate. Based on these findings it would be possible to tune gel properties for a specific application as texture modifier or even as a faecal bulk formation assistant and an "ileal break" inducer.