Effect of sucrose on agarose gels mechanical behaviour

Mechanical and optical characterization of gelled matrices during storage

“…For carbodiimide cross-linked gelatin gels values of D N around 2-5 nm were reported (Kuijpers et al, 1999). However, mesh size for 1.5% agarose gels was estimated over 120 nm by gel electrophoresis and wave length exponent method (Xiong et al, 2005), and 80 nm for 2% agarose gels (Normand et al, 2003). On the other hand, Shimizu, Brenner, Liao, and Matsukawa (2012) has estimated 30 nm the mesh size of 1% gellan gels by NMR, which is comparable to those values obtained in this work.…”

“…The average network mesh size D N (also known as correlation length) gives an indication of the mean 'pore-size' of the network, although the precise relation depends on the shape of the pores (Normand et al, 2003). Using the Maxwell elements previously determined, the plateau modulus was calculated as the sum of the elastic contribution (G i ) for each formulation at different storage times (Grassi et al, 2009;Pasut et al, 2008).…”

Cryogelation phenomena in mixed skim milk powder – barley β-glucan–polyol aqueous dispersions

“…2c). Similarly, other researchers (Normand, Aymard, Lootens, Amici, & Plucknett, 2003) using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) found that the agarose gel microstructure transformed from an aggregated, fibrillar network to a fine and homogeneous structure in the presence of sugars added as cosolutes.…”

Gelling ability of kefiran in the presence of sucrose and fructose and physicochemical characterization of the resulting cryogels

“…In agarose-sucrose gels at high sucrose content, the glass transition had been postulated to become sufficiently close to the gelation temperatures to inhibit gel formation, thus slowing down the development of the gel network (Normand et al 2003). This mechanism would also explain why increasing sucrose content led to a gradual increase in the viscous properties of the present kefiran gels.…”

“…The large reduction in G' observed at around 37°C for the kefiran gels without sugars, which transition has been interpreted as a melting phenomenon (Piermaria et al 2008), would be relevant within the context of the application of these gels in food formulations because this endothermic change becomes minimized and shifted to higher temperatures when either sugar was included in the gels. Likewise, only an extremely small transition or none at all, had been observed by differential scanning calorimetry for agarose gels containing sugars (Normand et al 2003).…”