Project description:Dairy cream, a common ingredient in various dishes and food products, is susceptible to rapid microbial growth due to its high water activity (≈0.97) and pH (≈6.7). Thus, it requires proper processing conditions to ensure food safety and extend shelf life. High-pressure processing (HPP) has emerged as a nonthermal food pasteurization method, offering an alternative to conventional heat-based techniques to obtain tastier, fresh-like, and safe dairy products without undesirable heat-induced alterations. This study assessed the impact of HPP (450 and 600 MPa for 5 and 15 min at 7 °C) and thermal pasteurization (75 °C for 15 s) on the microbiological and physicochemical attributes of dairy cream immediately after processing and throughout refrigerated storage (4 °C). HPP-treated samples remained microbiologically acceptable even on the 51st day of storage, unlike thermally pasteurized samples. Moreover, HPP decreased inoculated Escherichia coli and Listeria innocua counts by more than 6 log units to undetectable levels (1.00 log CFU/mL). pH, color (maximum variation of ΔE* up to 8.43), and fatty acid profiles remained relatively stable under varying processing conditions and during storage. However, viscosity exhibited higher values for HPP-treated samples (0.028 ± 0.003 Pa·s) compared to thermally processed ones (0.016 ± 0.002 Pa·s) by the 28th day of storage. Furthermore, volatile compounds (VOCs) of all treated samples presented a tendency to increase throughout storage, particularly acids and aliphatic hydrocarbons. These findings show HPP's potential to significantly extend the shelf life of highly perishable dairy cream by at least 15 days compared to thermal pasteurization.
Project description:Background Donor human milk should be processed to guarantee microbiological safety prior to infant feeding, but this process can influence the structure and quantity of functional proteins. Objective The aim of this study was to determine the effect of thawing, homogenization, vat-pasteurization (Vat-PT), retort sterilization (RTR) and ultra-high-temperature (UHT) processing on the structure of bioactive proteins in donor milk. Methods Pooled donor milk was either not treated (Raw) or treated with an additional freeze-thaw cycle with and without homogenization, Vat-PT, RTR with and without homogenization, and UHT processing with and without homogenization. Overall protein retention was assessed via sodium-dodecyl sulfate (SDS-PAGE), and the immunoreactivity of 13 bioactive proteins were assessed via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results Freeze-thawing, freeze-thawing plus homogenization and Vat-PT preserved all the immunoglobulins (sIgA/IgA, IgG, IgM) in donor milk, whereas RTR and UHT degraded almost all immunoglobulins. UHT did not alter osteopontin immunoreactivity, but Vat-PT and retort decreased it by ~50 and 70%, respectively. Freeze-thawing with homogenization, Vat-PT and UHT reduced lactoferrin's immunoreactivity by 35, 65, and 84%, respectively. Lysozyme survived unaltered throughout all processing conditions. In contrast, elastase immunoreactivity was decreased by all methods except freeze-thawing. Freeze-thawing, freeze-thawing plus homogenization and Vat-PT did not alter polymeric immunoglobulin receptor (PIGR) immunoreactivity, but RTR, RTR plus homogenization and UHT increased detection. All heat processing methods increased α-lactalbumin immunoreactivity. Vat-PT preserved all the growth factors (vascular/endothelial growth factor, and transforming growth factors β1 and β2), and UHT treatments preserved the majority of these factors. Conclusion Different bioactive proteins have different sensitivity to the treatments tested. Overall, Vat-PT preserved more of the bioactive proteins compared with UHT or RTR. Therefore, human milk processors should consider the impact of processing methods on key bioactive proteins in human milk.
Project description:Decellularized tissues are considered superior scaffolds for cell cultures, preserving the microstructure of native tissues and delivering many kinds of cytokines. High hydrostatic pressure (HHP) treatment could remove cells physically from biological tissues rather than chemical methods. However, there are some risks of inducing destruction or denaturation of extracellular matrices (ECMs) at an ultrahigh level of HHP. Therefore, efficient decellularization using moderate HHP is required to remove almost all cells simultaneously to suppress tissue damage. In this study, we proposed a novel decellularization method using a moderate HHP with supercooling pretreatment. To validate the decellularization method, a supercooling device was developed to incubate human dermal fibroblasts or collagen gels in a supercooled state. The cell suspension and collagen gels were subjected to 100, 150, and 200 MPa of HHP after supercooling pretreatment, respectively. After applying HHP, the viability and morphology of the cells and the collagen network structure of the gels were evaluated. The viability of cells decreased dramatically after HHP application with supercooling pretreatment, whereas the microstructures of collagen gels were preserved and cell adhesivity was retained after HHP application. In conclusion, it was revealed that supercooling pretreatment promoted the denaturation of the cell membrane to improve the efficacy of decellularization using static application of moderate HHP. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the HHP with supercooling pretreatment did not degenerate and damage the microstructure in collagen gels.
Project description:Decellularization procedures have been developed and optimized for the entire organ or tissue blocks, by either perfusion of decellularizing agents through the tissue's vasculature or submerging large sections in decellularizing solutions. However, some research aims require the analysis of native as well as decellularized tissue slices side by side, but an optimal protocol has not yet been established to address this need. Thus, the main goal of this work was to develop a fast and efficient decellularization method for tissue slices-with an emphasis on lung-while attached to a glass slide. To this end, different decellularizing agents were compared for their effectiveness in cellular removal while preserving the extracellular matrix. The intensity of DNA staining was taken as an indicator of remaining cells and compared to untreated sections. The presence of collagen, elastin and laminin were quantified using immunostaining and signal quantification. Scaffolds resulting from the optimized protocol were mechanically characterized using atomic force microscopy. Lung scaffolds were recellularized with mesenchymal stromal cells to assess their biocompatibility. Some decellularization agents (CHAPS, triton, and ammonia hydroxide) did not achieve sufficient cell removal. Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was effective in cell removal (1% remaining DNA signal), but its sharp reduction of elastin signal (only 6% remained) plus lower attachment ratio (32%) singled out sodium deoxycholate (SD) as the optimal treatment for this application (6.5% remaining DNA signal), due to its higher elastin retention (34%) and higher attachment ratio (60%). Laminin and collagen were fully preserved in all treatments. The SD decellularization protocol was also successful for porcine and murine (mice and rat) lungs as well as for other tissues such as the heart, kidney, and bladder. No significant mechanical differences were found before and after sample decellularization. The resulting acellular lung scaffolds were shown to be biocompatible (98% cell survival after 72 h of culture). This novel method to decellularize tissue slices opens up new methodological possibilities to better understand the role of the extracellular matrix in the context of several diseases as well as tissue engineering research and can be easily adapted for scarce samples like clinical biopsies.
Project description:High hydrostatic pressure (HHP, 600 MPa/15 min), pasteurization (72 °C/15 s) and pasteurization-HHP (72 °C/15 s + 600 MPa/15 min) processing of milk were comparatively evaluated by examining their effects on microorganisms and quality during 30 days of storage at 4 °C. The counts of total aerobic bacteria in HHP-treated milk were less than 2.22 lgCFU/mL during storage, while they exceeded 5.00 lgCFU/mL in other treated milk. Although HHP changed the color, it had more advantages in maintaining the nutrient (fat, calcium and β-lactoglobulin) properties of milk during storage. Moreover, the viscosity and particle size of HHP-treated milk were more similar to the untreated milk during storage. However, consumer habits towards heat-treated milk have led to poor acceptance of HHP-treated milk, resulting in a low sensory score. In sum, compared with pasteurization- and pasteurization-HHP-treated milk, HHP-treated milk showed longer shelf life and better nutritional quality, but lower sensory acceptance.
Project description:Pasteurized donor human milk is recommended for hospitalized preterm infants when mother's own milk is unavailable. Our aim was to compare the antiviral activity of human milk processed by Holder pasteurization (HoP) or high-pressure processing (HPP) against representative enveloped and non-enveloped viruses including cytomegalovirus and hepatitis A virus. Expressed milk from 20 donors collected from the Ontario Milk Bank was combined into 10 pools, each from two unique donors. Each pool was processed by HoP (62.5°C, 30 min) or HPP (500 MPa, 8 min, 4°C) and subsequently inoculated with cytomegalovirus or hepatitis A virus to achieve a final concentration of 5-log plaque-forming units/mL. Plaque reduction assays were used to quantify detectable virus after 30 min incubation (room temperature). Post hoc experiments using a 4 h incubation time were conducted if reductions were detected at 30 min. Irrespective of processing, cytomegalovirus concentrations declined in all pools after 30 min incubation (P < 0.0001). Milk processed by HoP exhibited significantly less reduction compared to raw milk (P = 0.0069). In post hoc experiments, anti-cytomegalovirus activity was maintained at 4 h, with high inter-pool variability. Hepatitis A virus concentration remained unchanged after 30 min incubation in raw and processed milk. Anti-cytomegalovirus activity in human milk is preserved following HoP and HPP, persisting up to 4 h post-inoculation; anti-hepatitis A virus activity was not observed in raw or processed milk. Further research is needed to understand how HoP or promising alternative processing methods affect the antiviral activity of donated milk, given its potential importance to recipient infants.
Project description:The milk metabolome is composed of hundreds of molecules that can impact infant development. In preterm infants, sterilized donor milk (DM) is frequently used for their feeding. We aimed to identify differences in the metabolome of DM after two types of milk sterilization: the Holder pasteurization (HoP) and a high hydrostatic pressure (HP) processing. DM samples were sterilized by HoP (62.5°C for 30 min) or processed by HP (350 MPa at 38°C). 595 milk metabolites were analyzed using an untargeted metabolomic analysis. Both treatments differentially altered several classes of compounds. The major changes noted included decreased levels of free fatty acids, phospholipid metabolites, and sphingomyelins. Decreases were more strongly noted in HP samples rather than in HoP ones. Both HoP and HP treatments increased the levels of ceramides and nucleotide compounds. The sterilization of human milk altered its metabolome especially for lipids.
Project description:The demand for decellularized xenogeneic tissues used in reconstructive heart surgery has increased over the last decades. Complete decellularization of longer and tubular aortic sections suitable for clinical application has not been achieved so far. The present study aims at analyzing the effect of pressure application on decellularization efficacy of porcine aortas using a device specifically designed for this purpose. Fresh porcine descending aortas of 8 cm length were decellularized using detergents. To increase decellularization efficacy, detergent treatment was combined with pressure application and different treatment schemes. Quantification of penetration depth as well as histological staining, scanning electron microscopy, and tensile strength tests were used to evaluate tissue structure. In general, application of pressure to aortic tissue does neither increase the decellularization success nor the penetration depth of detergents. However, it is of importance from which side of the aorta the pressure is applied. Application of intermittent pressure from the adventitial side does significantly increase the decellularization degree at the intimal side (compared to the reference group), but had no influence on the penetration depth of SDC/SDS at both sides. Although the present setup does not significantly improve the decellularization success of aortas, it is interesting that the application of pressure from the adventitial side leads to improved decellularization of the intimal side. As no adverse effects on tissue structure nor on mechanical properties were observed, optimization of the present protocol may potentially lead to complete decellularization of larger aortic segments.
Project description:Tracheal replacement using tissue engineering technologies offers great potential to improve previously intractable clinical interventions, and interest in this area has increased in recent years. Many engineered airway constructs currently rely on decellularized native tracheas to serve as the scaffold for tissue repair. Yet, mechanical failure leading to airway narrowing and collapse remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality following clinical implantation of decellularized tracheal grafts. To understand better the factors contributing to mechanical failure in vivo, we characterized the histo-mechanical properties of tracheas following two different decellularization protocols, including one that has been used clinically. All decellularized tracheas deviated from native mechanical behavior, which may provide insights into observed in vivo graft failures. We further analyzed protein content by western blot and analyzed microstructure by histological staining and found that the specific method of decellularization resulted in significant differences in the depletion of proteoglycans and degradation of collagens I, II, III, and elastin. Taken together, this work demonstrates that the heterogeneous architecture and mechanical behavior of the trachea is severely compromised by decellularization. Such structural deterioration may contribute to graft failure clinically and limit the potential of decellularized native tracheas as viable long-term orthotopic airway replacements.
Project description:Pressure-enhanced sterilization (PES) and ohmic heating (OH) are two emerging sterilization techniques, currently lacking implementation in the food industry. However, both technologies offer significant benefits in terms of spore inactivation using reduced thermal intensity in food products, as well as minimized effects on sensory and nutritional profiles. In this study, PES and OH were tested based on possible food safety process windows in comparison to thermal retorting, to optimize the food quality of carrot-based purees. The following parameters related to food quality were tested: texture, carotenoid content, color, and detectable amount of food processing contaminants (FPC) formed. Application of the innovative sterilization techniques resulted in a better retention of color, texture, and carotenoids (for PES) as well as a reduced formation of food processing contaminants. Importantly, a significant reduction in the formation of furan and its derivates was observed, compared to the retorted samples. Hence, both sterilization technologies showed promising results in the mitigation of potential toxic processing contaminants and retention of quality attributes.