Skip to main content
ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Plant Polymer Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #292322
Title: Multiple-particle tracking study of the microheterogeneity of beta-glucan-rich hydrocolloidal extractive suspensions

Author
item Xu, Jingyuan - James
item TSENG, YIIDER - JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
item INGLETT, GEORGE
item WIRTZ, DENIS - JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/1/2013
Publication Date: 6/12/2013
Citation: Xu, J., Tseng, Y., Inglett, G.E., Wirtz, D. 2013. Multiple-particle tracking study of the microheterogeneity of beta-glucan-rich hydrocolloidal extractive suspensions. Meeting Abstract. xx.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Nutrim-10 is a newly developed food product containing the dietary of soluble fiber ß-glucan. The micro-structural heterogeneities of Nutrim-10 suspensions were investigated by monitoring the thermally driven displacements of well-dispersed microspheres via video fluorescence microscopy. By comparing the distribution of the time-dependent mean-square displacement (MSD) of polystyrene microspheres embedded in three concentrations of Nutrim-10 suspensions, we found that the degree of heterogeneity of the suspensions increased dramatically within a narrow range of Nutrim-10 concentrations. The ensemble-averaged MSD of 5.5% Nutrim-10 suspension exhibited a power-law behavior which scaled linearly with time. This behavior was similar to that of homogeneous aqueous glycerol solution. But the MSD distribution was wider and more asymmetric than for glycerol. Increasing Nutrim-10 concentration rendered the MSD distribution much more asymmetric and skewed. Multiple-Particle Tracking (MPT) provided a new and quantitative method to characterize the organization of plant biopolymers in suspension or solution.