Microwave-assisted enzymatic hydrolysis to produce xylooligosaccharides from rice husk alkali-soluble arabinoxylan

The prebiotic properties of xylooligosaccharides (XOS) and arabino-xylooligosaccharides (AXOS) produced from rice husk (RH) using microwave treatment combined with enzymatic hydrolysis were evaluated. The RH was subjected to microwave pretreatment at 140, 160 and 180 °C for 5, 10 and 15 min to obtain crude arabinoxylan (AX). Increasing microwave pretreatment time increased sugar content. Crude AX was extracted with 2% (w/v) sodium hydroxide at 25 °C for 24 h and used as a substrate for XOS production by commercial xylanases. Results showed that oligosaccharides produced by Pentopan Mono BG and Ultraflo Max provided xylobiose and xylotriose as the main products. AXOS was also present in the oligosaccharides that promoted growth of Lactobacillus spp. and resisted degradation by over 70% after exposure to simulated human digestion.

Acute Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonist Liraglutide Prevents Drug-Induced Heroin Seeking in Rats

Substance use disorder is a difficult disease to treat due to its relapsing nature. In the last decade, opioid use disorder has been a threat to public health, being declared an epidemic by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is a tragic situation, considering there are currently effective, yet not ideal, treatments to prevent relapse. Recent research has shown that hormones that modulate hunger and satiety also can modulate motivated behavior for drugs of abuse. For example, the short-acting analog of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), an incretin hormone that regulates homeostatic feeding, has been shown to reduce responding for rewarding stimuli such as food, cocaine, heroin and nicotine. Here, we tested the acute effects of the long-acting GLP-1 analog, liraglutide, on heroin seeking. We found that, in rats with heroin self-administration experience, subcutaneous (sc) administration of an acute dose of 0.3 mg/kg liraglutide was effective in preventing relapse after exposure to three major precipitators: drug-associated cues, stress, and the drug itself. However, the effects of the drug were contingent upon the pretreatment time, with the drug being fully effective when administered using a 6 h, rather than a 4 h pretreatment time. Finally, we confirmed that the reduction in drug seeking is not due to a locomotor impairment, as liraglutide did not significantly alter performance in a rotarod test. As such, this acute non-opioid treatment may serve as a new and effective bridge to treatment.

Insight into the deep eutectic solvent pretreatment of oil palm empty fruit bunches: Effects of temperature, empty fruit bunch to solvent ratio, and time

This work aimed to comprehensively examine the pretreatment efficiency of oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) using two different types of deep eutectic solvent (DES) mixtures, i.e., choline chloride/imidazole (DES-I) and choline chloride/glycerol (DES-G) in terms of pretreated EFB structural composition and enzymatic hydrolysis. The influence of the pretreatment temperature (55 °C, 90 °C, 125 °C, 160 °C, and 195 °C), EFB to solvent ratio (1:5, 1:10, 1:15, and 1:20), and pretreatment time (2 h, 4 h, and 6 h) on the performance of pretreated EFB and the generated black liquor was examined. The optimal conditions for EFB pretreatment were 160 °C, 1:5 ratio, and 2 h using DES-I solvent, and 160 °C, 1:10 ratio and 4 h using DES-G solvent. The structural carbohydrates of empty fruit bunch pretreated with DES-I, DES-I EFB1 and DES-G, DES-G EFB2 increased to 66.1%, and 64.6%, respectively. The enzymatic hydrolysis of DES-I EFB1 resulted in higher glucan conversion (92.4%) compared to DES-G EFB2, indicating that DES-I solvent was more efficient than DES-G for EFB pretreatment. X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and variable-pressure scanning electron microscopy confirmed the removal of lignin and hemicelluloses from EFB during pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis.

Microwave-assisted Enzymatic Hydrolysis to Produce Xylooligosaccharides from Rice Husk Alkali- soluble Arabinoxylan

This study aimed to produce xylooligosaccharide (XOS) and arabino-xylooligosaccharide (AXOS) from rice husk (RH) using microwave treatment combined with enzymatic hydrolysis and evaluate their prebiotic properties. The RH was pretreated by a microwave heating process at 140, 160 and 180°C for 5, 10, and 15 min to obtain crude arabinoxylan (AX). The results emphasized that increasing microwave pretreatment time increased sugar content. The crude AX was then extracted with 2% (w/v) sodium hydroxide at 25°C for 24 h. The obtained AX was then used as a substrate for XOS production by commercial xylanases. The results showed that the oligosaccharide produced by Pentopan Mono BG and Ultraflo Max provided xylobiose and xylotriose as the main products. Interestingly, AXOS was also present in the oligosaccharide product. Furthermore, the oligosaccharides obtained were able to promote the growth of Lactobacillus spp. and to resist degradation more than 70% after exposure to simulated human digestion.

PRETREATMENT OF MILLET HUSK USING ALKALINE HYDROGEN PEROXIDE TO ENHANCE ENZYMATIC HYDROLYSIS FOR REDUCING SUGAR PRODUCTION

The effectiveness of alkaline hydrogen peroxide as a suitable choice of pretreatment for the conversion of millet husk to reducing sugars using cellulase enzyme for hydrolysis and subsequent ethanol production was determined. The effects of three variables on reducing sugar production from millet husk were determined using one factor at a time (OFAT) method namely; peroxide concentration, pretreatment time and pretreatment temperature. From the results, it was observed that a significant (P<0.05) amount of reducing sugars were lost during pretreatment of millet husk. The untreated group which was only physically pretreated (milled) however yielded a significantly higher (P<0.05) reducing sugar concentration of 10.67mg/ml after enzymatic hydrolysis while the highest reducing sugar concentration of 4.82mg/ml was obtained using 0.375%v/v peroxide concentration for 60minutes at 250C. Therefore, pretreatment of biomass with alkaline hydrogen peroxide may be more suitable for feedstock with high lignin contents than millet husk.

Enhanced cellulose efficiency of pressurized hot water pretreated highland Ethiopian bamboo (Yushania alpina): A potential feedstock for ethanol production

For the production of ethanol from pretreated lignocellulose biomass play a paramount role in facilitating the conversion of cellulose into glucose in the hydrolysis step. Therefore, this study is focused on the effect of hot water pretreatment on the chemical composition (cellulose and lignin) of highland bamboo of Ethiopia. The chemical composition of highland bamboo showed 46.76% (w/w) cellulose, 25.27% (w/w) lignin, 12.18% (w/w) hemicellulose, 3.77% (w/w) ash, 12.23% (w/w) hot-water extractive and 3.93% (w/w) ethanol-toluene extractives. The effect of hot water pretreatment was observed after the biomass was treated in the autoclave at 121, 128 and 135 oC with 5, 10, and 15 min pretreatment time with distilled water. The best pretreatment method was selected based on the pretreatment method which maximized the cellulose content and minimized the lignin content. Based on the selected pretreatment method a higher cellulose content of 52.44% and lower lignin content of 27.85% was achieved at 128 oC temperature and 10 min pretreatment time.

Sun Drying and Far-Infrared Drying Characteristics of Lily

The sun drying and far-infrared drying characteristics of lily were experimentally investigated. Fresh lily was blanched and treated with boiling water at 100 °C before drying. The effects of blanching time, drying method and drying temperature on drying rate, nutrient contents (total phenol, total flavonoid and starch contents), hardness and color were analyzed. The results showed that fresh lily without blanching pretreatment had deep browning color, wrinkled skin and long drying time under any drying temperature and drying method. However, the drying rate of samples with blanching pretreatment was significantly increased and the drying time was shortened. The drying rate of solar drying was much lower than that of infrared drying, however the drying quality is better. With the increase of blanching time, the browning degree and the nutrient contents under both drying methods were reduced, while the foaming rate was increased. The hardness after solar drying was moderate, while the hardness of far-infrared drying gradually increased with the increase of drying temperature. The blanching time of 4–6 min was the ideal pretreatment time. Under this pretreatment time, a sample with fair color and moderate hardness and nutrient contents can be obtained under the far-infrared drying temperature of 60–90 °C. The far-infrared drying was more suitable than the sun drying and the most suitable drying process was as follows: fresh lilies were blanched at 100 °C for 5 minutes, and then dried at 70°C for 7.5 hours.

Enzymatic degradation of polysaccharides in Chinese vinegar residue to produce alcohol and xylose

Vinegar residue is a key secondary waste in the brewing industry that is often disposed irresponsibly, due to its large quantity and lack of reasonably effective use, causing environmental pollution issues. NaOH was used to pretreat Chinese vinegar residue, and the reaction products were consumed by the enzyme complex and Saccharomyces cerevisiae 1300 during the stage of simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF). The results show that the optimal pretreatment conditions for Chinese vinegar residue were solid-to-liquid ratio of 1 : 11‏, NaOH concentration of 2.2%, pretreatment temperature of 63 °C, pretreatment time of 80 min, and amount of 4.9 IU g^–1 xylanase. While these optimal conditions allowed more effective enzymatic degradation of the dried vinegar residue and resulted in the total sugar yield of 66.1%. Subsequently, dried vinegar residue and enzyme complex were added into the SSF process four times, and SSF reacted in a shaker at 120 r min^–1 and 37 °C for 120 h, the yields of ethanol and xylose were 31.4% and 18.5%, respectively. Therefore, the method of Chinese vinegar residue for alcohol and xylose production by SSF was proved.

Production of Xyloligosaccharides from Rice Straw by Microwave-assisted Enzymatic Hydrolysis and Evaluation of Their Prebiotic Properties

Rice straw (RS) is a by-product from rice production process. It is rich in cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. RS hemicellulose mainly composes of arabinoxylan (AX). This research aimed to investigate the potential of microwave-pretreatment in AX extraction from RS and substrate to produce xylooligosaccharides (XOS) via enzymatic hydrolysis. The extractive-free RS was pretreated by microwave process at 160°C for 5-15 min, then the AX was extracted with 4% sodium hydroxide. The total sugar and reducing sugar content of AX exhibited that increasing microwave-pretreatment time increased the yield of AX. The highest AX content was found at 160°C for 10 min as 7.73%, reducing sugar content of 11.89 mg/g, and total sugar of 165.85 mg/g. The crude AX obtained by microwave-pretreatment was then used as a substrate for XOS production by two commercial xylanases of Pentopan mono BG (BG) and Ultraflo Max (UM), at the enzyme concentration of 50-300 U/g AX (50°C, pH 6.0) for 24 h.The reducing sugar content and sugar profiles were monitored by DNS assay,and thin layer chromatography (TLC) which revealed that BG 50 U/g at 12 h andUM 50 U/g at 24 h showed the promising reducing sugar of 16.4 and 25.44 mg/g,respectively. The composition of XOS derived from RS (RS-XOS) prepared by BGwas xylobiose (X2), xylotriose (X3), xylotretraose (X4), and xylopentaose (X5)while by UM was xylobiose (X2), xylotriose (X3) and xylotretraose (X5). Moreover,XOS produced by BG contained very low amount of xylose (X1). In addition, theRS-XOS could the growth of Lactobacillus brevis greater than commercial XOS.