Han Zhong, He Pan, Geng Yu-Huan, Manzoor Muhammad Faisal, Zeng Xin-An, Hassan Suqlain, Afraz Muhammad Talha
School of Food Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China.
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Intelligent Food Manufacturing, Foshan University, Foshan 528225, China.
Foods. 2025 Jul 28;14(15):2637. doi: 10.3390/foods14152637.
This study used fresh (young) and old (mature) ginger tissues as model systems to investigate how plant maturity modulates the response to pulsed electric field (PEF), a non-thermal processing technology. Specifically, the influence of tissue maturity on dielectric behavior and its downstream effect on juice yield and bioactive compound extraction was systematically evaluated. At 2.5 kV/cm, old ginger exhibited a pronounced dielectric breakdown effect due to enhanced electrolyte content and cell wall lignification, resulting in a higher degree of cell disintegration (0.65) compared with fresh ginger (0.44). This translated into a significantly improved juice yield of 90.85% for old ginger, surpassing the 84.16% limit observed in fresh ginger. HPLC analysis revealed that the extraction efficiency of 6-gingerol and 6-shogaol increased from 1739.16 to 2233.60 µg/g and 310.31 to 339.63 µg/g, respectively, in old ginger after PEF treatment, while fresh ginger showed increases from 1257.88 to 1824.05 µg/g and 166.43 to 213.52 µg/g, respectively. Total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) also increased in both tissues, with OG-2.5 reaching 789.57 µg GAE/mL and 336.49 µg RE/mL, compared with 738.19 µg GAE/mL and 329.62 µg RE/mL in FG-2.5. Antioxidant capacity, as measured by ABTS and DPPH inhibition, improved more markedly in OG-2.5 (37.8% and 18.7%, respectively) than in FG-2.5. Moreover, volatile compound concentrations increased by 177.9% in OG-2.5 and 137.0% in FG-2.5 compared with their respective controls, indicating differential aroma intensification and compound transformation. Structural characterization by SEM and FT-IR further corroborated enhanced cellular disruption and biochemical release in mature tissue. Collectively, these results reveal a maturity-dependent mechanism of electro-permeabilization in plant tissues, offering new insights into optimizing non-thermal processing for functional food production.
本研究以新鲜（幼嫩）和陈旧（成熟）姜组织作为模型系统，来探究植物成熟度如何调节对脉冲电场（PEF）这种非热加工技术的响应。具体而言，系统评估了组织成熟度对介电行为的影响及其对出汁率和生物活性化合物提取的下游效应。在2.5 kV/cm时，由于电解质含量增加和细胞壁木质化，陈旧姜表现出明显的介电击穿效应，与新鲜姜（0.44）相比，导致更高程度的细胞崩解（0.65）。这使得陈旧姜的出汁率显著提高至90.85%，超过了新鲜姜中观察到的84.16%的限度。高效液相色谱分析表明，PEF处理后，陈旧姜中6-姜酚和6-姜烯酚的提取效率分别从1739.16增加至2233.60 μg/g和从310.31增加至339.63 μg/g，而新鲜姜分别从1257.88增加至1824.05 μg/g和从166.43增加至213.52 μg/g。两种组织中的总酚含量（TPC）和总黄酮含量（TFC）也都有所增加，OG-2.5分别达到789.57 μg GAE/mL和336.49 μg RE/mL，相比之下FG-2.5中的含量分别为738.19 μg GAE/mL和329.62 μg RE/mL。通过ABTS和DPPH抑制测定的抗氧化能力，在OG-2.5中（分别为37.8%和18.7%）比在FG-2.5中改善得更显著。此外，与各自的对照相比，挥发性化合物浓度在OG-2.5中增加了177.9%，在FG-2.5中增加了137.0%，表明不同的香气增强和化合物转化。通过扫描电子显微镜和傅里叶变换红外光谱进行的结构表征进一步证实了成熟组织中细胞破坏和生化物质释放的增强。总体而言，这些结果揭示了植物组织中电通透化的成熟度依赖性机制，为优化功能性食品生产的非热加工提供了新的见解。
