Effect of homogenization-pressure-assisted enzymatic hydrolysis on the structural and physicochemical properties of lotus-seed starch nanoparticles

In previous studies, we successfully prepared lotus-seed starch nanoparticles (LS-SNPs) using enzymatic methods. To further improve their performance, we studied the structural, physical and chemical properties of LS-SNPs prepared by high-pressure homogenization (HPH)-assisted enzymatic hydrolysis (EH). HPH treatments at different pressures and frequencies have a significant effect on the particle size and molecular weight of LS-SNPs. Structural analyses showed that LS-SNP and H-LS-SNP both comprised B-type starch crystals. As the homogenization pressure and frequency were increased, the relative crystallinity of H-LS-SNP first increased and then decreased, indicating that HPH treatment affected the double-helix structure of LS-SNPs. The results also show that moderate HPH treatment was beneficial for enzymatic hydrolysis, but when the HPH treatment was further increased, it destroyed the ordered structure of LS-SNPs. Our research showed that H-LS-SNPs with the smallest particle size and the highest crystallinity were obtained under pressure of 150 MPa, a homogenization frequency of five times the original, and a material-to-liquid ratio of 3%. The results indicate that HHP-assisted EH is a suitable method for preparing SNPs. These findings provide new ideas for the preparation of SNPS to meet the needs of food industry. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study found that high-pressure homogenization (HPH) assisted enzymatic hydrolysis (EH) has a significant impact on the structural and physical properties of lotus-seed starch nanoparticles (LS-SNPs), moderate HPH treatment is beneficial to enzymatic hydrolysis, but too high treatment can disrupt the ordered structure.