scholarly journals A simple method of drying polyacrylamide slab gels that eliminates cracking

BioTechniques ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghanshyam D Heda

The polyacrylamide slab gel is the most common gel format for analyzing protein samples by electrophoresis. Drying these gels is useful in many biological applications; for example, autoradiography, in which radiolabeled proteins are separated to enable their detection and identification. Dried protein gels can also serve as an ideal method of preserving the gel itself for permanent record-keeping and allowing densitometry at a convenient time. Here I describe a simple and highly reproducible gel-drying method that results in dried gels without the cracks that are frequently encountered with many existing gel-drying methods.

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (9) ◽  
pp. 2644
Author(s):  
Jan Oszmiański ◽  
Sabina Lachowicz ◽  
Paulina Nowicka ◽  
Paweł Rubiński ◽  
Tomasz Cebulak

The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of Jerusalem artichoke processing methods and drying methods (freeze drying, sublimation drying, vacuum drying) on the basic physicochemical parameters, profiles and contents of sugars and polyphenolic compounds, and health-promoting properties (antioxidant activity, inhibition of the activities of α-amylase, α-glucosidase, and pancreatic lipase) of the produced purée. A total of 25 polyphenolic compounds belonging to hydroxycinnamic phenolic acids (LC-PDA-MS-QTof) were detected in Jerusalem artichoke purée. Their average content in the raw material was at 820 mg/100 g dm (UPLC-PDA-FL) and was 2.7 times higher than in the cooked material. The chemical composition and the health-promoting value of the purées were affected by the drying method, with the most beneficial values of the evaluated parameters obtained upon freeze drying. Vacuum drying could offer an alternative to freeze drying, as both methods ensured relatively comparable values of the assessed parameters.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (14) ◽  
pp. 4153
Author(s):  
Doaa Abouelenein ◽  
Ahmed M. Mustafa ◽  
Simone Angeloni ◽  
Germana Borsetta ◽  
Sauro Vittori ◽  
...  

Strawberry is the most consumed berry fruit worldwide due to its unique aroma and flavor. Drying fruits to produce a powder represents one of the possible conservation methods to extend their shelf-life. The aim of the present study was to compare the influence of freezing and different drying methods on the volatile profile of strawberry using the HS-SPME/GC–MS method, in addition to analysis of strawberry jam volatiles. A total of 165 compounds were identified, accounting for 85.03–96.88% of the total volatile compositions. Results and PCA showed that freezing and each drying process affected the volatile profile in a different way, and the most remarkable representative differential volatiles were ethyl hexanoate, hexyl acetate, (E)-2-hexenyl acetate, mesifurane, (E)-nerolidol, γ-decalactone, 1-hexanol, and acetoin. Shade air-dried, frozen, freeze-dried, and oven-dried 45 °C samples retained more of the fruity and sweet aromas of strawberry, representing more than 68% of the total aroma intensity according to the literature. In contrast, the microwave-drying method showed drastic loss of fruity esters. Strawberry jams demonstrated complete destruction of esters and alcohols in most jams, while terpenes were significantly increased. These findings help better understand the aroma of strawberry and provide a guide for the effects of drying, freezing, and jam processing.


Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (21) ◽  
pp. 5146
Author(s):  
Agata Marzec ◽  
Hanna Kowalska ◽  
Jolanta Kowalska ◽  
Ewa Domian ◽  
Andrzej Lenart

In this study, the impacts of two different pear cultivars, “Conference” and “Alexander Lucas”, on the kinetics and the final quality of samples dried by convection (CD) and microwave-convection (MCD) methods, were investigated. The quality of dried material was evaluated by the analysis of water activity, porosity, color, acoustic emission (AE) and mechanical and sensory properties. The required drying time to obtain 0.2 kg H2O/kg dry solid (d.s.) was longer for “Conference” than “Alexander Lucas” and was 20 min by CD and 5 min by MCD. The pear cultivar, in conjunction with the drying method (CD or MCD), affected the number of AE events and the work of breaking. The CD pear of the “Conference” cultivar was characterized by higher force, higher breaking work and stronger AE relative to the CD pear of the “Alexander Lucas” cultivar. There were no differences in taste or overall quality, but the hardness was higher for the CD “Conference” pear. A principal component analysis showed that panelists preferred dried fruit with good taste and overall quality but lower hardness. A positive correlation was found between the number of acoustic events and sensory hardness; thus, an acoustic method can be useful for effectively evaluating the texture of dried pears. These results show that the dried pear slices that generated fewer AE events upon breaking were perceived as better by the panelists.


Molecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 1049 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosalía Rodríguez-Dorado ◽  
Clara López-Iglesias ◽  
Carlos García-González ◽  
Giulia Auriemma ◽  
Rita Aquino ◽  
...  

Processing and shaping of dried gels are of interest in several fields like alginate aerogel beads used as highly porous and nanostructured particles in biomedical applications. The physicochemical properties of the alginate source, the solvent used in the gelation solution and the gel drying method are key parameters influencing the characteristics of the resulting dried gels. In this work, dried gel beads in the form of xerogels, cryogels or aerogels were prepared from alginates of different molecular weights (120 and 180 kDa) and concentrations (1.25, 1.50, 2.0 and 2.25% (w/v)) using different gelation conditions (aqueous and ethanolic CaCl2 solutions) and drying methods (supercritical drying, freeze-drying and oven drying) to obtain particles with a broad range of physicochemical and textural properties. The stability of physicochemical properties of alginate aerogels under storage conditions of 25 °C and 65% relative humidity (ICH-climatic zone II) during 1 and 3 months was studied. Results showed significant effects of the studied processing parameters on the resulting alginate dried gel properties. Stability studies showed small variations in aerogels weight and specific surface area after 3 months of storage, especially, in the case of aerogels produced with medium molecular weight alginate.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1130 ◽  
pp. 577-580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeong Ae Kim ◽  
Myung Hee Song ◽  
Yeoung Sang Yun

Polyethylenimine (PEI)-coated biomass-chitosan composite fiber (PBCF) was fabricated to recover Ru from acetic acid waste solution. The present work aimed to understand the effects of molecular weight of chitosan and drying method on stability and sorption performance of the PBCF. For this, the PBCF was prepared by extruding the mixed solutions of chitosan and Corynebacteriumglutamicum to form the composite fibers which were modified with ionic polymer, PEI. The degree of swelling of PBCFs prepared by hot-air, natural, and freeze drying methods were 1.25, 1.34, and 1.07 %, respectively, indicating that the freeze-drying method was the best. Batch biosorption studies showed that the maximum Ru uptake could be achieved with PBCF prepared with medium molecular weight chitosan, and could reach 34.1 mg/g, which was 7.9 times higher than that of the commercial ion exchange resin, LEWATIT® MonoPlus M 500 (4.3 mg/g). Therefore, PBCF can be considered as an alternative sorbent to synthetic resin for recovery of Ru form industrial acetic acid waste solution.


Author(s):  
Ayalew Demissew ◽  
Ayenew Meresa ◽  
Keber Temesgen

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is a strong-flavoured vegetable consumed in different ways and its distinctive flavor or simply pungency. Onion has also important natural compounds effective for medical functions. Its importance is directly related with high content of high organosulphur compounds. Shelf life of fresh onion bulb is short enough due to the presence of high moisture content where postharvest loss of onion bulb reaches up to 50% in the production season. Consequentially Onion bulb had extreme variable market price during production and off season which affect both growers and consumers. So in this study the nutritional and volatile components of different drying methods of onion were evaluated. Effect of different drying method on protein, carbohydrate, total sugar, fat, pyurvic acid, ascorbic acid, total phenol, total flovonol, rehydration ratio, colour and sensory properties of onion slice were evaluated and found insignificant at (P < 0.05) for microwave and modified direct solar dryer. But oven drying method had significant effect on onion bulb quality attributes at (P < 0.05) than other two drying methods.


Author(s):  
Sonia Singh ◽  
Neetu Agrawal

The herbs, Chenopodium album Linn. and Spinacia oleracea Linn. belongs to Chenopodiaceae family, are the two nutritious and edible green leafy food crops, abundantly found especially in the northern-west region of India. These plants have gained renown popularity, because of their high nutritional content including protein, amino acids, carbohydrate, and even the presence of phenolic components, which ultimately may get affected with drying and storage techniques. Impact of different drying methods (microwave drying at 4 minutes, hot air oven drying at 5 hours and sun drying at 8-10 hours) on nutrient quality and antioxidant property of Chenopodium album Linn. and Spinacia oleracea Linn. leaves were evaluated by using UV spectrophotometritc assay, total phenolic content and DPPH free radical scavenger method. Drying treatments were significantly decreased the moisture, carbohydrate and protein content present in C.album and S. oleracea. Hot air oven drying method produced dried samples of C.album and S. oleracea had significantly similar antioxidant activity when compared with the samples obtained from sun drying method. The dried samples obtained from hot air oven drying technique showed significant presence of total phenolic content in C. album and S. oleracea (6.44±0.12 mg/g, 6.69±0.40 mg/g) whilst the traditional sun drying method produced 8.00±0.02 mg/g and 7.89±0.37 mg/g). It is concluded that microwave drying and hot air oven drying were the methods to preserve appreciable percentage of nutrient components compared to the fresh samples. On other hand, the traditional method produced substantial reduction of nutrient quality. From statistical analysis, hot air oven drying technique was considered as optimum method which showed satisfactory % retention of protein (65.86%) and carbohydrate (85.95%) at 5 hours (shorter time than sun drying time period) along with significant antioxidant activity (34.89 μg/mL and 35.60 μg/mL) similar as obtained from the traditional technique (32.00 μg/mL).


Molecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 1078
Author(s):  
Joanna Cichowska-Bogusz ◽  
Adam Figiel ◽  
Angel Antonio Carbonell-Barrachina ◽  
Marta Pasławska ◽  
Dorota Witrowa-Rajchert

Apple slices of the Elise variety were previously osmo-dehydrated in erythritol, xylitol, and sucrose for 2 h. In some parts of the experiment, 30 min of ultrasound pre-treatment (US) were applied. Afterwards, fruit samples were dried by convective (CD), microwave-vacuum (VM), and a combined method (CD/VM, mix two of them). The main aim of the research was to characterize an impact of osmotic dehydration, sonication pre-treatment, and drying method on the physicochemical properties of the dried apples. The use of sugar alcohols (xylitol, erythritol) in the production of dried apples did not badly affect the taste of the obtained dried products; it enabled a noticeable cooling/refreshing effect felt in the mouth when consuming a snack, and enabled the production of dried snacks with lower calorific value. Polyol residues in the product were at a level that was safe for consumers. The most popular convective drying was long lasting, whereas the VM drying method allowed for the shortest drying time, amounting to 76 min; moreover, additional application of ultrasounds reduced this time to 36 min. The combined drying method allowed the total duration of the process to be reduced 2–4.5 times. Ultrasound applied during osmotic dehydration did not significantly affect attributes of the descriptive sensory analysis for the obtained dried apples. The best hygroscopic properties, ensuring the storage stability of the dried product, showed dried apples previously osmo-dehydrated in erythritol and sucrose solutions.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Umesh C. Lohani ◽  
Kasiviswanathan Muthukumarappan

Although extrusion is a promising process to develop ready to eat cereals and snacks, thermal treatment to raw material during extrusion results in degradation of phenolic compounds. Therefore, an approach was made to enhance the total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity (AA) of apple pomace (AP) prior to extrusion process. In this study, AP powder was naturally fermented (F) for 12 h and then was subjected to ultrasonication (U) at various conditions [25, 37, and 50 µm ultrasonication amplitude (UA) for 1, 2, and 3 min of ultrasonication time (UT)]. AP was then dried in oven (O) and microwave (MW), separately and thus four drying methods, i.e. O<sub>F</sub>-O<sub>U</sub>, O<sub>F</sub>-MW<sub>U</sub>, MW<sub>F</sub>-O<sub>U</sub>, MW<sub>F</sub>-MW<sub>U</sub> were used in combinations. Full factorial design was used for experimental plan and results were analyzed using statistical software. It was observed that drying method significantly affected the TPC and AA of AP powder followed by UA. UT did not have any significant effect on TPC, and AA. Maximum TPC, and AA observed for the AP powder dried in MW after fermentation and ultrasonication (MW<sub>F</sub>-MW<sub>U</sub>) at 50 µm UA for 3 min UT were 372.98 mg GAE/100g DW, and 729.67 µmol TE/100 g DW, respectively. MW<sub>F</sub>-MW<sub>U</sub> drying exhibited a more prominent disrupted and porous structure of AP powder compared with that of O<sub>F</sub>-O<sub>U</sub> drying.


Molecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (10) ◽  
pp. 1925 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Ziegler-Borowska ◽  
Kinga Mylkie ◽  
Mariana Kozlowska ◽  
Pawel Nowak ◽  
Dorota Chelminiak-Dudkiewicz ◽  
...  

Human serum albumin (HSA) is one of the most frequently immobilized proteins on the surface of carriers, including magnetic nanoparticles. This is because the drug–HSA interaction study is one of the basic pharmacokinetic parameters determined for drugs. In spite of many works describing the immobilization of HSA and the binding of active substances, research describing the influence of the used support on the effectiveness of immobilization is missing. There are also no reports about the effect of the support drying method on the effectiveness of protein immobilization. This paper examines the effect of both the method of functionalizing the polymer coating covering magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), and the drying methods for the immobilization of HSA. Albumin was immobilized on three types of aminated chitosan-coated nanoparticles with a different content of amino groups long distanced from the surface Fe3O4-CS-Et(NH2)1–3. The obtained results showed that both the synthesis method and the method of drying nanoparticles have a large impact on the effectiveness of immobilization. Due to the fact that the results obtained for Fe3O4-CS-Et(NH2)2 significantly differ from those obtained for the others, the influence of the geometry of the shell structure on the ability to bind HSA was also explained by molecular dynamics.


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