Ge Shengju, Li Man, Ji Na, Liu Jing, Mul Hongyan, Xiong Liu, Sun Qingjie
College of Food Science and Engineering and ‡Central Laboratory, Qingdao Agricultural University Qingdao, Shandong Province 266109, China.
J Agric Food Chem. 2018 Jan 10;66(1):177-186. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.7b04684. Epub 2017 Dec 26.
Gelatin hydrogels exhibit excellent biocompatibility, nonimmunogenicity, and biodegradability, but they have limited applications in the food and medical industries because of their poor mechanical properties. Herein, we first developed an in situ self-assembly process for the preparation of gelatin-short linear glucan (SLG) nanocomposite hydrogels with enhanced mechanical strength. The microstructure, dynamic viscoelasticity, compression behavior, and thermal characteristics of the gelatin-SLG nanocomposite hydrogels were determined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic rheological experiments, compression tests, and texture profile analysis tests. The SEM images revealed that nanoparticles were formed by the in situ self-assembly of SLG in the gelatin matrix and that the size of these nanoparticles ranged between 200 and 600 nm. The pores of the nanocomposite hydrogels were smaller than those of the pure gelatin hydrogels. Transmission electron microscopy images and X-ray diffraction further confirmed the presence of SLG nanoparticles with spherical shapes and B-type structures. Compared with pure gelatin hydrogels, the nanocomposite hydrogels exhibited improved mechanical behavior. Notably, the hardness and maximum values of the compressive stress of gelatin-SLG nanocomposites containing 5% SLG increased by about 2-fold and 3-fold, respectively, compared to the corresponding values of pure gelatin hydrogels.
明胶水凝胶具有优异的生物相容性、非免疫原性和生物降解性，但由于其机械性能较差，在食品和医药行业的应用受到限制。在此，我们首次开发了一种原位自组装工艺，用于制备具有增强机械强度的明胶-短线性葡聚糖（SLG）纳米复合水凝胶。使用扫描电子显微镜（SEM）、动态流变学实验、压缩试验和质地剖面分析试验来测定明胶-SLG纳米复合水凝胶的微观结构、动态粘弹性、压缩行为和热特性。SEM图像显示，纳米颗粒是由SLG在明胶基质中原位自组装形成的，这些纳米颗粒的尺寸在200至600纳米之间。纳米复合水凝胶的孔隙比纯明胶水凝胶的孔隙小。透射电子显微镜图像和X射线衍射进一步证实了存在具有球形形状和B型结构的SLG纳米颗粒。与纯明胶水凝胶相比，纳米复合水凝胶表现出改善的机械性能。值得注意的是，与纯明胶水凝胶的相应值相比，含有5%SLG的明胶-SLG纳米复合材料的硬度和压缩应力最大值分别提高了约2倍和3倍。
