Morchella conica Pers. (M. conica) has been used both as a medical and edible mushroom and possesses antimicrobial properties and antioxidant activities. However, the antioxidant properties of polysaccharides purified from M. conica have not been studied. The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro antioxidant properties of a polysaccharide NMCP-2 (neutral M. conica polysaccharides-2) purified from M. conica, as determined by radical scavenging assay and H2O2-induced oxidative stress in HEK 293T cells. Results showed that NMCP-2 with an average molecular weight of 48.3 kDa possessed a much stronger chelating ability on ferrous ions and a higher ability to scavenge radical scavenging 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) than the other purified fraction of NMCP-1 from M. conica. Moreover, 3-(4, 5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetra-zolium bromide (MTT) assay showed that NMCP-2 dose-dependently preserved cell viability of H2O2-induced cells. The NMCP-2 pretreated group reduced the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) content and increased the mitochondria membrane potential (MMP) levels. In addition, Hoechst 33342 staining revealed cells treated with NMCP-2 declined nuclear condensation. Ultrastructural observation revealed that NMCP-2 pretreatment alleviated the ruptured mitochondria when exposed to H2O2. Furthermore, western blot analysis showed that NMCP-2 prevented significant downregulation of the protein expression of Bax, cleaved caspases 3, and upregulated Bcl-2 levels. These results suggest the protective effects of NMCP-2 against H2O2-induced injury in HEK 293T cells. NMCP-2 could be used as a natural antioxidant of functional foods and natural drugs.

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Effects of leached amylose (AM) and amylopectin (AP) on textural and morphological properties of cooked

Fuji, Golden Delicious, and Jonagold parenchyma were imaged by confocal laser scanning microscopy to be extracted morphology characteristics, which were used to analyze the relationship with macrotexture of apples tested by penetration and compression. Before analyzing the relationship, the significantly different morphology parameters were reduced in dimensions by principal component analysis and were proved to be availably used for distinguishing the different apple cultivars. For compression results, cell did not absolutely determine the hardness in different apple cultivars, and the pore should also be taken into consideration. With the same size in cell feret diameter, the bigger the pore feret diameter was, the softer the apple became. If no difference existed in pore feret diameter size, the cultivar became harder with a narrower distribution in cell feret diameter. The texture parameters were compared with the roundness parameters in the same or inverse changing trends to explore the relationship. High correlations were found between the texture parameters (energy required in whole penetration (Wt), fracture force (Fp), crispness) and pore solidity (R(2) > 0.924, P < 0.001). Compactness of parenchyma played an important role in fruit texture. This research could provide the comprehension about relationship between microstructure and macrotexture of apple cultivars and morphological values for modeling apple parenchyma, contributing to numerical simulation for constitutive relation of fruit.

A nondestructive and portable device was provided for fruit quality detection during storage, transport and even growth based on experimental modal analysis. A systematic statistical analysis method about outlier detection, data set partitioning, parameter optimization, and multiple regression models were provided.

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Ultrasonic‐microwave synergistic extraction (UMSE) was used to extract from Morchella conica polysaccharide (MCP). The effect of three independent variables (microwave power, ratio of water volume to raw material weight (W/M ratio), extraction time) on extraction yield was optimized using response surface methodology with a Box–Behnken design. The high R2 values (>.966) demonstrated the response and independent variables predicted by polynomial model were fitted. The optimal conditions for MCP extraction were microwave power of 210.61 W, W/M ratio of 41.07:1, and extraction time of 126.98 s. Under these conditions, the experimental yield was 7.53 ± 0.17%. By comparison of ultrasound assistant extraction (UAE) and microwave assistant extraction (MAE), the extraction efficiency of UMSE is the highest. Practical applications Morchella conica is a species of mushroom contained with amount of bioactive polysaccharide. Novel extraction technique UMSE was applied to extract MCP because the high synergistic energy promotes cell disruption and MCP release. Compared with the traditional extraction technology, UMSE requires shorter time and higher efficiency. These effects make UMSE economic to gain bioactive MCP. Thus, the application of UMSE can be useful for improvement on industrial extraction processes of food and natural products.

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