Background: Spirulina platensis is a photosynthetic microalgae with fibrous filamentous that belongs to the cyanobacteria family. In this study, we investigated the effects of ethanol and methanol extracts as well as the powder of spirulina platensis microelements on the sensory and texture properties of the bread. Methods: In order to determine the texture characteristics, we applied a texture analyser and conducted the Texture Profile Analysis test (Double-Density Compression). Sensory evaluation (hedonic scale 1−5) of the samples was performed by 10 trained panelists. Results: The results showed that use of spirulina microalgae in the formulation of bread altered the tissue properties significantly compared with the control sample. Addition of the spirulina decreased the hardness of the bread compared to the control sample. Moreover, addition of the methanol extract resulted in the highest adhesiveness, while addition of ethanol extract and spirulina microalgae powder led to the highest springiness rate among the samples. The highest and lowest amounts of gumminess were observed in bread samples containing spirulina microalgae powder and control treatments, respectively. The control sample received the highest score regarding all of the sensory features. Samples with spirulina powder received the lowest sensory properties. Conclusion: We can produce spirulina fortified bread with desirable nutritional and sensory characteristics.
Background: Herbals are rich in effective compounds such as phenolic and antioxidant. Various methods are developed to extract these compounds, including Soxhlet, maceration, microwave, and ultrasound. The extraction method affects the quantity and quality of materials. Objectives: The current study aimed to investigate the effect of ultrasound in phenolic and antioxidants compounds extraction from Caper roots. Methods: Response surface methodology (RSM) and Box-Behnken design were used to optimize the two extraction parameters, including extraction time (10, 25, and 40 min) and ultrasound power (40%, 70%, 100 %) by aqueous and alcoholic solvents. Results: Based on the results, ultrasound power was more effective than the extraction time. A direct association was observed between ultrasound power and the extraction time with the total extraction. The optimum aqueous and alcoholic extraction condition for phenolic and antioxidant compounds extraction were as follow: extraction time 36 min and ultrasound power 91 percent. Total phenolic content was obtained 14.96 mg/g with aqueous solvent and 17.24 mg/g with alcoholic solvent, and IC50 was 52.17 µg/mg with aqueous solvent and 40.20 µg/mg with alcoholic solvent. Conclusions: Overall, alcoholic extracts had more phenolic and antioxidant compounds than aqueous extracts.
In this study, ZnFe 2 O 4 magnetic nanoparticles were used to modify a screen printed electrode. The modified electrode decreased the over-potential of vitamin C (70 mV) and prominently increased its oxidation peak current (3.3%). Under optimum conditions, the electrode provided a linear response based on the vitamin C concentrations between 0.5-500.0 μM, with a detection limit of 0.15 μM, by using the differential pulse voltammetric method. The modified electrode exhibited excellent electrochemical performance, including a good linear range and a micromolar detection limit, high sensitivity, and desirable stability and repeatability. Particularly, the practical applicability was revealed by quantifying the vitamin C concentrations in real samples.
In the field of determination of vitamin B9 (folic acid, FA), we have described the development of a sensitive electrochemical sensor through promoting the screen-printed electrode (SPE) and taking the advantage of zinc ferrite magnetic nanoparticles (ZnFe2O4MNPs). Cyclic voltammetry (CV) experiments demonstrated the powerful activity of ZnFe2O4MNPs/SPE for electrooxidation of FA by showing the prominent oxidation peak at 600 mV vs. Ag/AgCl. By differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) measurements, a linear relation between current response and concentration of vitamin B9 was determined in the range of 1.0–100.0 µM, and detection limit is found to be 0.3 µM (S/N=3). Except high sensitivity, the developed sensor demonstrated high stability, reproducibility and repeatability, and was also successfully applied to specify FA in real samples of vitamin B9 tablets and human urine.
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