Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Microimaging of Strawberry Flower Buds and Fruit

Abstract

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) can be used to examine tissue structure and developmental changes during growth and maturation of plant organs nondestructively. Spin-lattice, relaxation time (T1)-weighted, inversion recovery, spin-echo images of strawberry (Fragaria ×ananassa Duch.) flower buds were acquired at 3 and 1 day before anthesis and receptacles at 4, 10, 15, and 25 days after anthesis (DAA). The central pith and ovules of flower buds imaged intensely with inversion echo times between 0.1 and 0.5 seconds. Achenes and the vascular cylinder, composed of vascular bundles surrounding the pith, were prominent in receptacles at 4 and 10 DAA. Vascular bundles leading to achene positions, cortex and pith tissues, and the vascular cylinder were evident in receptacles at all developmental stages. A general trend to homogeneity of structure was observed in images of receptacles nearing full maturity (25 DAA). Inversion recovery, spin-echo NMR microimaging may be useful for studying internal physicochemical changes in flower buds and fruit of strawberry and of other fruit crops.

Textural Properties and Their Correlation to Cell Structure in Porous Food Materials

“…The heterogeneous morphology of cellular solid foods makes the quantification of structure/mechanical relationships complex. Basic solid mechanics theories have been applied by several researchers to define the fundamental mechanical behavior of various food products. , Several techniques have been used to study food microstructures and these include microscopy, , magnetic resonance imaging, , computer vision technique, , porosimetry, , and most recently X-ray computed tomography. − …”

“…Basic solid mechanics theories have been applied by several researchers to define the fundamental mechanical behavior of various food products. 3,4 Several techniques have been used to study food microstructures and these include microscopy, 5,6 magnetic resonance imaging, 7,8 computer vision technique, 9,10 porosimetry, 11,12 and most recently X-ray computed tomography. [13][14][15] The advent of powerful noninvasive techniques such as X-ray microtomography (XMT) has enabled better characterization of porous food structures compared to other techniques such as density measurement.…”

Microstructural Characterization of Deep‐fat Fried Breaded Chicken Nuggets Using X‐ray Micro‐computed Tomography

“…Several techniques have been used to study food microstructures and these include microscopy (Kalab et al . 1995; Ferrando and Spiess 2000), magnetic resonance imaging (Maas and Line 1995; Ramos‐Cabrer et al. 2005), computer vision technique (cameras) (Hullberg and Ballerini 2003; Du and Sun 2006), porosimetry (Rahman et al.…”

“…Understanding how these elements are configured, relate and interact to affect food quality, processing and process optimization has become very important in developing tailored and novel food items to meet the demand of today's diverse and sophisticated consumers (Heertj 1998;van Dalen et al 2003van Dalen et al , 2007. Several techniques have been used to study food microstructures and these include microscopy (Kalab et al 1995;Ferrando and Spiess 2000), magnetic resonance imaging (Maas and Line 1995;Ramos-Cabrer et al 2005), computer vision technique (cameras) (Hullberg and Ballerini 2003;Du and Sun 2006), porosimetry (Rahman et al 2002;Kassama and Ngadi 2005a) and most recently X-ray computed tomography (CT) (Falcone et al 2004;Trater et al 2005;Leonard et al 2008). X-ray CT provides a number of advantages over the other techniques such as noninvasive method of imaging and nonelaborate sample preparation procedure.…”

Differentiation of Maturity and Quality of Fruit Using Noninvasive Extractive Electrospray Ionization Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

“…Maturity of fruits is usually evaluated in terms of freshness and/or firmness, color of surface or flesh, flavor, and surface defects. , In some cases (e.g., peaches, bananas), firmness and color of the surface and flesh are measured comprehensively. − However, flavor has been considered as the most important parameter and has been used widely. ,,, To date, electrochemical methods such as electronic noses, ,− NMR, ,− optical spectroscopy, including techniques such as IR, NIR, − fluorescence spectroscopy, and HPLC, solid-phase microextraction (SPME), , GC, electrophoresis, and GC/MS , have been employed for maturity measurement. Electrochemical methods show a general weakness in specificity; many compounds present in the environment can give rise to false signals.…”