Qiufang Liang

• University of Alberta

This study aimed at co-encapsulating borage seed oil (BSO)- and peppermint oil (PO) blends in ultrasoundassisted complex nanoparticles stabilized by soy protein isolate (SPI) and purity gum ultra (PGU) in different ratios: SPI/PGU-1:0 (NP1), 0:1 (NP2), 1:1 (NP3), 1:3 (NP4), and 3:1 (NP5). The BSO- and PO-loaded SPI/PGU complex nanoparticles (BP-loa...

Dietary oils (DOs) from various sources are known to be beneficial functional bioactives in medicinal applications. However, DOs are highly susceptible to light, temperature, and oxygen, rendering them chemically unstable and prone to oxidation. As a result, their use in the food and pharmaceutical sectors is constrained. Nanoencapsulation techniqu...

Recent advancements in the utilization of ultrasonic technology for the curing of processed meat products: A comprehensive review, Ultrasonics Sonochemistry (2024), doi: https://doi. Abstract 17 Curation meat products involves multiple stages, including pre-curing processing 18 (thawing, cleaning, and cutting), curing itself, and post-curing proces...

In modern times, there has been a significant rise in interest regarding the production of high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs) owing to their extraordinary stability as well as their distinctive solid-like rheological characteristics. Particles produced by polysaccharides, proteins, and polysaccharide-protein complexes/conjugates are highly effic...

Multi-frequency power ultrasound was applied as an environmentally friendly technique to control the nanoparticles (LS/XG-NPs) embedded with lotus root starch/xanthan gum, with the aim of enhancing the stability of Pickering emulsions. The present investigation was centered on evaluating the impact of ultrasound technology on various aspects of the...

Producing starch gels with superior mechanical attributes remains a challenging pursuit. This research sought to develop a simple method using ethanol exposure to produce robust starch gels. The gels’ mechanical properties, rheology, structural characteristics, and digestion were assessed through textural, rheological, structural, and in vitro dige...

The increasing focus on health and well-being has sparked a rising interest in bioactive components in the food, pharmaceutical, and nutraceutical industries. These components are gaining popularity due to their potential benefits for overall health. The growing interest has resulted in a continuous rise in demand for bioactive components, leading...

Emulsion systems are extensively utilized in the food industry, including dairy products, such as ice cream and salad dressing, as well as meat products, beverages, sauces, and mayonnaise. Meanwhile, diverse advanced technologies have been developed for emulsion preparation. Compared with other techniques, high‐intensity ultrasound (HIUS) and high‐...

This study has developed, ultrasound-assisted, a novel food packaging film (U-zein/SiO2) for food packaging applications. Incorporating an optimal concentration of 18 mg/mL of nano-SiO2 and subjecting the film to 10 min of ultrasonic treatment resulted in a remarkable increase of 32.89% in elongation at break and 55.86% in tensile strength. In addi...

The current research investigated the multi-scale structural interactions between arrowhead starch (AS) and phenolic acids, such as ferulic acid (FA) and gallic acid (GA) to identify the mechanism of anti-digestion effects of starch. AS suspensions containing 10 % (w/w) GA or FA were subjected to physical mixing (PM) followed by heat treatment at 7...

This study aimed to improve the emulsification properties of the sodium caseinate (Cas) and pectin (Pec) complex using multi-frequency power ultrasound to regulate the complexation of Cas and Pec. The results revealed that optimal ultrasonic treatment (Frequency 60 kHz, power density 50 W/L, and time 25 min) led to a 33.12 % increase in emulsifying...

To prevent food spoilage caused by microbial infection, the development of an environmentally friendly antimicrobial preservation material is crucial. Here, the microporous γ-CD-MOFs was utilized to encapsulate the hydrophobic active substance curcumin, resulting in the preparation of a non-toxic antimicrobial material (Cur-CD-MOFs). The results re...

Ultrasound is a high-energy approach that can help with homogenization and dispersion in cavitation. In this study, nanoemulsions of curcumin and orange essential oil were prepared with ultrasound treatment at different times. The ultrasound-treated nanoemulsions for 10 min exhibited the smallest droplet size, the best storage, and higher thermal s...

New Pickering emulsion stabilizer LS/XG-NPs (Lotus root starch/xanthan gum nanoparticles) was prepared via autoclaving-cooling method followed by combination with XG. The LS/XG-NPs showed uniform and stable particles with particle size <500 nm, PDI <30, and zeta potential 30-40. The autoclaving-cooling treatment completely changed the crystalline f...

Te efect of ultrasonic-assisted α-amylase hydrolysis on the structure and physicochemical properties of arrowhead-derived type 3 resistant starch (RS3) was studied. After ultrasound treatment, the yield of resistant starch reached 17.21%, signifcantly (p < 0.05) increased by 65.64%. Compared with RS3 prepared by traditional enzymolysis (RS3-E), the...

A novel food packaging film was developed by incorporating a tea polyphenols-loaded pullulan/trehalose ([email protected]/Tre) into a composite film with ultrasound-assisted treatment of dual-frequency (20/35 kHz, 40 W/L) for 15 min to assess the physicochemical and mechanical properties of a composite film. The optimized ultrasound-assisted signif...

This study developed two novel food packaging films, oat protein/pullulan (Op/Pul) and Nisin-loaded oat protein/pullulan ([email protected]/Pul) films. Ultrasound was introduced to improve its mechanical, structural and physicochemical properties. The Op/Pul film has lower light transmittance, water vapour and oxygen permeability (OP) and improved...

Novel lotus root starch (LRS)-myristic acid (MA) complexes were prepared using an ultrasound-assisted hydrothermal method (UHM) to investigate its nutritional intervention in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Ultrasonic treatment promoted the formation of the V-type crystal structure of the complex and improved the intermolecular interaction force,...

Multi-scale structural interactions of the arrowhead starch-linoleic/stearic acid complexes under different durations (20, 40 & 60 min) of dual-frequency power ultrasound (DFPU, 20/40 kHz) and their underlying mechanisms were discussed. Differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed V6 type (V6-I, II) crystalline structure f...

Sagittaria sagittifolia L. is a well-known plant, belongs to the Alismataceae family. Sonication can improve the functional properties of starch; hence, the aim of this study was to develop ultrasonically modified arrowhead starch (UMAS) using a sophisticated and eco-friendly tri-frequency power ultrasound (20/40/60 kHz) method at 300, 600, and 900...

Ultrasound treatment was used to successfully prepare Quercetin (Qu)-loaded Casein phosphopeptides (CPP)/chitosan (CS) nanoparticles. Compared with the control, the above ternary nanoparticles with the smallest size (241.27 nm, decreased by 34.32%), improved encapsulation efficiency of Qu (78.55%, increased by 22.12%) when prepared under following...

The study was conducted to understand the effect of zein-gum Arabic (GA) complex coacervates prepared by ultrasound treatment on the encapsulation of resveratrol. Compared with zein, zein-GA complex coacervation largely increased the encapsulation efficiency from 26.19% to 55.85% and it was further increased to 74.2% after sonication. Also, promine...

The effects of ultrasound-assisted enzymolysis on the physicochemical properties and structure of arrowhead-derived type 3 resistant starch (RS3) were investigated. Compared with the traditional enzymolysis, ultrasonic treatment significantly (p < 0.05) increased the resistant starch yield by 34.46%. Enzymolysis reaction kinetics revealed that ultr...

The effects of multi-frequencies (mono: 20 kHz, 40 kHz, 60 kHz; dual: 20/40 kHz, 40/60 kHz, 20/60 kHz, and tri: 20/40/60 kHz) on physicochemical properties and in vitro digestibility of arrowhead starch-linoleic acid (AS-LA) complexes were evaluated. The complexing index and FTIR analyses showed that sonication treatment might be helpful in the for...

This study aimed to investigate how ultrasound treatment for different durations (0, 10, 20, 30, 60, and 90 min) impacts the hydrolysis and structural characteristics of β-lactoglobulin (β-LG). Ultrasound conditions were set at ultrasound frequency (40 ± 2) kHz, power 600 W, power density 111.1 W/L, pulse on/off time 10 s/3 s, scanning period 500 m...

BACKGROUND As a nondestructive testing technology, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) has been applied to evaluate food quality because of its features of rapidity, low cost, nondestructiveness and portability. However, fish freshness evaluation based on existing EIS technology is affected by the differences of individual biological sampl...

In order to avoid the discomfort of digesting milk protein and make full use of the gastrointestinal digestive function, a milk macromolecular peptide was prepared with ACE inhibitory activity after gastrointestinal digestion as the index. Then, the antihypertensive activity of the milk macromolecular peptide in rats was evaluated. The results show...

Inflammatory bowel disease, a typical chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract, make up a growing share of the global disease burden. This study firstly evaluated the anti-inflammatory effects of corn protein hydrolysate (CPH) using a cell model of tumor cell necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-induced inflammation and a mouse model of coli...

A scheme for preparing milk ACE inhibitory peptides by in vitro proteolysis and simulated gastrointestinal digestion was constructed. The ultrasonic assisted pretreatment was used to improve the enzymolysis of milk protein. The in-situ real-time infrared was used to establish monitoring model of enzymatic process. Results showed that under the cond...

Vascular inflammation and oxidative stress are the major causes of endothelial dysfunction leading to cardiovascular disease. Previously, we have reported the anti-inflammatory activity of zein hydrolysate and its-derived peptides. However, the underlying mechanisms have not been understood. In this study, we report that zein hydrolysate and its de...

In this study, resveratrol was successfully encapsulated using zein-chitosan complex coacervation. The encapsulation efficiency was markedly improved (51.4%) after chitosan coating at 1:2.5 zein/chitosan ratio, compared with 38.6% using native zein. Analysis of multi-model frequency ultrasound treatment effects on resveratrol encapsulation using ze...

Background and objectives Bioactive peptides are expected to be ingested orally; It is important to study the effect of simulated gastrointestinal (GI) digestion on the stability and antioxidant activity of these peptides. Findings After simulated GI digestion, degree of hydrolysis of corn protein hydrolysates (CPH) significantly increased from 22...

In this study, we evaluated the effects of sweeping frequency ultrasound (SFU) pretreatment on the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity of zein hydrolysates and enzymatic hydrolysis thermodynamics. The solubility, surface hydrophobicity (H o ), degree of hydrolysis (DH) of zein and ACE inhibitory activity of hydrolysates were det...

The aim of this study was to explore the effect of dielectric pretreatments on the drying characteristics of rapeseeds and physico-chemical attributes of cold-pressed rapeseed oil. Rapeseeds were adjusted to moisture contents of 15% and underwent dielectric pretreatments prior to oil extraction by cold pressing at frequencies of 27, 915, and 2450 M...

Ultrasound was used as a new technology to pretreat protein prior to proteolysis to improve enzymolysis efficiency. The effects of different working modes of ultrasound on the angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity of zein hydrolysates and the structural characteristics of zein were investigated. The solubility, surface hydrophob...

Chronic inflammation is an underlying contributor to various chronic diseases. The objectives of this study were to investigate the anti-inflammatory activity of zein hydrolysate after simulated gastrointestinal digestion and Caco-2 cell absorption, and to identify novel anti-inflammatory peptides after transport across Caco-2 cells. Three zein hyd...

In this study, the effects of ultrasound treatment with different frequencies and working modes on the encapsulation of resveratrol using zein were investigated. Triple-frequency simultaneous ultrasound (TFU) with 20/28/40 kHz led to the highest encapsulation efficiency (EE; 84.75% increase) and loading capacity (LC; 84.78% increase) of resveratrol...

A statistical data fitting model is a common and effective analysis method for the classification of fish freshness by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). However, it is difficult to extend the exploration of biological EIS to the mechanism level on the basis of statistical results. In this study, the relationship between electrical param...

The aim of this study was to establish a new model to reflect the real ultrasound pretreatment process on rice protein (RP). In this study, ultrasound treatment affected the yield of soluble protein of RP significantly and also improved the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiently. However, the aggregation of soluble protein occurred when ultrasonic power...

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of low-frequency ultrasound on the enzymolysis of corn protein. A L 9 (3 ⁴ ) orthogonal design was used to optimize ultrasound pretreatment conditions. Degree hydrolysis (DH), conversion rate of protein (CR), and DPPH IC 50 were selected as analytical indicators. Under the optimal ultrasound condi...

Each conspecific biological individual has a unique body composition. This diversity may result in the variability of basic electric characteristic in electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurement process. Morphological characteristic of EIS is presented for the first time in this article to eliminate the measurement variability of carps...

The objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of multi-frequency energy-gathered ultrasound (MFEGU) and MFEGU assisted alkaline pretreatments on the enzymolysis and the mechanism of two pretreatments accelerating the rice protein (RP) proteolysis process. The results showed that MFEGU and MFEGU assisted alkaline pretreatments improve...

The bioavailability and bioavailable forms of collagen after oral administration to rats were investigated in this study. The relative and absolute bioavailability of collagen were 57.8% and 49.6%, respectively, which was indirectly evaluated by the bioavailability of Hyp in collagen using pharmacokinetic method. The amino acid profile of plasma sh...

Background Gelatin has long been widely used in foods, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and others. However, there is little report on its bioavailability and bioavailable forms presently.ResultsThe relative and absolute bioavailability of gelatin were 74.12% and 85.97%, respectively, which was indirectly evaluated by the bioavailability of total Hyp in...

The hydrolysis kinetics and radical-scavenging activity of gelatin were investigated under simulated gastrointestinal digestion in this study. In the gastric phase, the degree of gelatin hydrolysis increased from 0.17% to 1.20%, while the DPPH radical-scavenging rate increased from 6.27% to 24.56%. Further digestion in the intestinal phase brought...

The hydrolysis kinetics and antioxidant activity of collagen from Nile tilapia were investigated under simulated gastrointestinal digestion in this study. From gastric to intestinal phase, degree of hydrolysis increased from 1.15% to 16.74%, while surface hydrophobicity decreased from 21.46% to 2.06%; DPPH radical scavenging increased from 18.22% t...

The collagen in Amur sturgeon skin was isolated using sodium chloride (SSC, 4.55%), acetic acid (ASC, 37.42%) and pepsin (PSC, 52.80%), respectively. The collagens appeared to be dense sheet-like film linked by random-coiled filaments under SEM. The denaturation and melting temperature were 32.15 °C and 116.62 °C for SSC, 32.78 °C and 120.66 °C for...

The collagen in Amur sturgeon was extracted by pepsin digestion and separated into two fractions, P2.4 (92.40%) and P4.0 (2.16%), by sodium chloride precipitation. SDS-PAGE and amino acid profile suggested that the P2.4 and P4.0 might be classified as type I collagen (PSC-I) and type V collagen (PSC-V), respectively. These collagens appeared to be...

The collagen in Amur sturgeon cartilage was isolated using sodium chloride (salt-solubilized collagen, SSC, 2.18%), followed by acetic acid (acid-solubilized collagen, ASC, 27.04%) and then pepsin (pepsin-solubilized collagen, PSC, 55.92%). These collagens appeared to be dense sheet-like film linked by random-coiled filaments under SEM. The denatur...