Effects of hydrogen sulphide on quality and antioxidant capacity of mulberry fruit

Here we investigated the effect of hydrogen sulphide (H₂S) on postharvest quality of mulberry fruit and possible underlying mechanisms. Endogenous H₂S content first increased after harvest and then decreased sharply with the process of ripening and senescence. A fumigation with H₂S released from 0.8 mm NaHS solution could significantly enhance the endogenous H₂S content by increasing the activities of D‐cysteine desulfhydrase and L‐cysteine desulfhydrase. NaHS could significantly slow down the ripening rate of mulberry fruit and reduce the respiratory intensity and anthocyanin content. Moreover, H₂S fumigation was able to obviously delay or slow down the decreases in soluble protein, titratable acidity and ascorbate contents. Further results showed that activities of representative antioxidant enzymes in H₂S‐treated sample were higher than those of control samples during storage, resulting in a decrease in superoxide anion production. Together, these results clearly indicate that H₂S fumigation has a potential role in the preservation of mulberries.     

Research progress on chemical modification of silk fibroin and its applications北大核心CSCD

Mulberry silk is composed of the two major parts of two triangle-like silk fibroin fibers and sericin covering the fibers and a few lipids. After removing the sericin on the raw silk what is left is the silk fibroin fiber. Silk fibroin is the main part of silk accounting for about 75% of the total weight. Silk fibroin contains 18 natural amino acids such as glycine Gly alanine Ala serine Ser serine aspartic acid Asp and tyrosine Tyr . The secondary structure of silk fibroin has three main conformations α-helix β-fold and random coil. Under certain conditions the three conformations can transform into each other and change the mechanical properties of the silk fibroin material. Silk fibroin extracted from silk fiber is a natural polymer with biocompatibility and biodegradability. It can be further processed into different forms of materials nanoparticles films hydrogels sponges etc. It has been applied in many fields such as biomedicine and cosmetics. In order to meet the needs of different fields researchers have conducted further chemical modification treatment based on the original excellent properties of silk fibroin. Meanwhile the active groups on various amino acid residues in silk fibroin also provide chemical reaction sites for the chemical modification of silk fibroin. The chemical modification methods of silk fibroin mainly include amino acid residue modification macromolecular grafting modification and crosslinking reaction modification. Among them amino acid residue modification can modify protein amino acid residues by chemical reagents and some groups can be introduced into the side chains of silk fibroin macromolecules. Grafting modification of silk fibroin macromolecules is one of the main means to bind functional compounds to silk fibroin macromolecular chains. The properties of grafted silk fibroin are affected by the type and grafting rate of the grafts. The chemical crosslinking reaction modification of silk fibroin macromolecules is to make the macromolecular chains connected by covalent bonds and form a network structure by means of crosslinking agents enzymes or ultraviolet irradiation. The cross-linking reaction can not only form covalent bonds within and between the molecular chains of silk fibroin thus changing its structural properties and improving its stability but be used to form covalent bonds with other polymers. At present the chemical modification of silk fibroin is mainly applied in the fields of silk textiles biomedicine and environmental science. In the field of silk textiles graft copolymerization modification of vinyl and other monomers crosslinking agent modification and other methods are used to overcome the shortcomings of silk like being easy to wrinkle. The graft modified monomers mainly include ethylene methacrylate and methylacrylamide. The active groups on crosslinking agents such as polycarboxylic acid / anhydride and epoxide are covalently combined with carboxyl hydroxyl and amino groups on macromolecules of silk fibroin to improve the wrinkle resistance of silk fabrics. In the field of biomedicine silk fibroin materials with appropriate chemical modification have better biological activity drug delivery ability antimicrobial properties and mechanical properties. The optimization of these properties enables silk fibroin materials to show great potential in drug control delivery tissue regeneration and wound repair. The applied research in the field of environmental science mainly focuses on the adsorption separation and catalysis of impurities in water. Therefore the modification of amino acid residues grafting and cross-linking of protein macromolecules can change some important properties of silk fibroin and meet the requirements of various applications and functionalization of silk fibroin. In many fields of chemical modification and application of silk fibroin protein fruitful results have been achieved which has laid a good foundation for the further development of related fields and also shows that the chemical modification of silk fibroin material has great potential and application prospects. However there are still some problems that need to be overcome and further improved in the current chemical modification methods such as mild modification conditions and accurate adjustment of the degree of modification which will be the research direction of related fields in the future. © 2022 Authors. All rights reserved.     

Microencapsulation of bioactive compounds from mulberry (Morus alba L.) leaf extracts by protein–polysaccharide interactions

Mulberry leaf extracts were generated using four concentrations of ethanol (50%, 60%, 70%, and 95% v/v). A 60% ethanolic mulberry leaf extract (60E) yielded a high total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity using 1, 1‐diphenyl‐2‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging and a ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay. Coating materials were derived using a combination of soy protein isolates (SPI) and low methoxyl (LM) pectin in a 1:1 ratio. The effect of various parameters on microencapsulation, such as pH (3.5, 4.0, and 4.5) and the concentration of coating materials (2.5, 5.0 and 7.5% w/v), was studied. Microcapsules produced using 60E as a core material at pH 4.0 with 7.5% of coating material showed a high encapsulation yield, encapsulation efficiency, TPC and antioxidant activity.     

仿蛛丝纤维集水进展

水资源短缺已经是21世纪全球性的重大问题,如何解决水资源短缺问题迫在眉睫.清晨挂满硕大水滴的蜘蛛网为解决水资源短缺问题提供了一个良好的思路.全面总结了仿蛛丝纤维集水领域的研究进展,重点介绍了仿蛛丝纤维的常见制备方法,包括瑞利不稳定法、电动力学技术和微流控法,详细划分了各类制备方法的子类,并对每一种方法的制备步骤、原理和优缺点进行了详细介绍.同时,详细介绍了仿蛛丝纤维集水的主要原理,包括拉普拉斯压力差、表面能梯度、滞后效应、悬挂能力和交叉结构受力原理,为集水工程与技术的开发和改进提供了理论基础.另外,介绍了单根仿蛛丝纤维集水、纤维交叉结构集水和大规模集水等仿蛛丝微纤维的集水行为.最后,对仿蛛丝纤维集水的未来发展方向进行了分析和展望.将有助于全面了解仿蛛丝纤维的制备方法、集水机理及集水行为,对集水效率的提高、油水分离、材料界面、流体控制和功能材料等领域的发展起到促进作用.     

Minocycline Loaded Hybrid Composites Nanoparticles for Mesenchymal Stem Cells Differentiation into Osteogenesis

Bone transplants are used to treat fractures and increase new tissue development in bone tissue engineering. Grafting of massive implantations showing slow curing rate and results in cell death for poor vascularization. The potentials of biocomposite scaffolds to mimic extracellular matrix (ECM) and including new biomaterials could produce a better substitute for new bone tissue formation. A purpose of this study is to analyze polycaprolactone/silk fibroin/hyaluronic acid/minocycline hydrochloride (PCL/SF/HA/MH) nanoparticles initiate human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) proliferation and differentiation into osteogenesis. Electrospraying technique was used to develop PCL, PCL/SF, PCL/SF/HA and PCL/SF/HA/MH hybrid biocomposite nanoparticles and characterization was analyzed by field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), contact angle and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The obtained results proved that the particle diameter and water contact angle obtained around 0.54 ± 0.12 to 3.2 ± 0.18 µm and 43.93 ± 10.8° to 133.1 ± 12.4° respectively. The cell proliferation and cell-nanoparticle interactions analyzed using (3-(4,5-dimethyl thiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium inner salt) MTS assay (Promega, Madison, WI, USA), FESEM for cell morphology and 5-Chloromethylfluorescein diacetate (CMFDA) dye for imaging live cells. Osteogenic differentiation was proved by expression of osteocalcin, alkaline phosphatase activity (ALP) and mineralization was confirmed by using alizarin red (ARS). The quantity of cells was considerably increased in PCL/SF/HA/MH nanoparticles when compare to all other biocomposite nanoparticles and the cell interaction was observed more on PCL/SF/HA/MH nanoparticles. The electrosprayed PCL/SF/HA/MH biocomposite nanoparticle significantly initiated increased cell proliferation, osteogenic differentiation and mineralization, which provide huge potential for bone tissue engineering.     

Characterizing the Effects of Washing by Different Detergents on the Wavelength-Scale Microstructures of Silk Samples Using Mueller Matrix Polarimetry

Silk fibers suffer from microstructural changes due to various external environmental conditions including daily washings. In this paper, we take the backscattering Mueller matrix images of silk samples for non-destructive and real-time quantitative characterization of the wavelength-scale microstructure and examination of the effects of washing by different detergents. The 2D images of the 16 Mueller matrix elements are reduced to the frequency distribution histograms (FDHs) whose central moments reveal the dominant structural features of the silk fibers. A group of new parameters are also proposed to characterize the wavelength-scale microstructural changes of the silk samples during the washing processes. Monte Carlo (MC) simulations are carried out to better understand how the Mueller matrix parameters are related to the wavelength-scale microstructure of silk fibers. The good agreement between experiments and simulations indicates that the Mueller matrix polarimetry and FDH based parameters can be used to quantitatively detect the wavelength-scale microstructural features of silk fibers. Mueller matrix polarimetry may be used as a powerful tool for non-destructive and in situ characterization of the wavelength-scale microstructures of silk based materials.     

Comparative Study of Ultrasonication-Induced and Naturally Self-Assembled Silk Fibroin-Wool Keratin Hydrogel Biomaterials

This study reports the formation of biocompatible hydrogels using protein polymers from natural silk cocoon fibroins and sheep wool keratins. Silk fibroin protein contains β-sheet secondary structures, allowing for the formation of physical cross-linkers in the hydrogels. Comparative studies were performed on two groups of samples. In the first group, ultrasonication was used to induce a quick gelation of a protein aqueous solution, enhancing the ability of Bombyx mori silk fibroin chains to quickly entrap the wool keratin protein molecules homogenously. In the second group, silk/keratin mixtures were left at room temperature for days, resulting in naturally-assembled gelled solutions. It was found that silk/wool blended solutions can form hydrogels at different mixing ratios, with perfectly interconnected gel structure when the wool content was less than 30 weight percent (wt %) for the first group (ultrasonication), and 10 wt % for the second group (natural gel). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and temperature modulated DSC (TMDSC) were used to confirm that the fibroin/keratin hydrogel system was well-blended without phase separation. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to investigate the secondary structures of blended protein gels. It was found that intermolecular β-sheet contents significantly increase as the system contains more silk for both groups of samples, resulting in stable crystalline cross-linkers in the blended hydrogel structures. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to analyze the samples’ characteristic morphology on both micro- and nanoscales, which showed that ultrasonic waves can significantly enhance the cross-linker formation and avoid phase separation between silk and keratin molecules in the blended systems. With the ability to form cross-linkages non-chemically, these silk/wool hydrogels may be economically useful for various biomedical applications, thanks to the good biocompatibility of protein molecules and the various characteristics of hydrogel systems.