This thesis explores the complex relationship between food protein structure and digestibility. Food proteins are important nutrients that play a central role in controlling the textural properties of many foods. Processing of food proteins may alter the protein aggregate structure and digestibility. The degree of protein aggregation during food processing depends on the denaturing conditions and the presence of other food components. Sugars and lipids may contribute to protein glycation and protein cross-linking via the Maillard reaction. Furthermore, amino acid residues of food proteins may be chemically modified during processing, thereby influencing both the structure and the nutritional value of proteins. An in vitro digestibility assay was used to investigate the relationship between protein aggregate structure and protein digestibility. Raw and boiled egg whites were exposed to a wide range of conditions: pH 2 - 12, in the presence and absence of 200 mM NaCl. It was found that pH and NaCl treatment prior to in vitro digestion resulted in significantly different protein ultrastructures, but did not markedly influence protein digestibility under the tested conditions. Raw egg white was less digestible than boiled egg white under all test conditions. The inclusion of Maillard reaction partners caused protein cross-linking concurrent with a decrease in digestibility. The digestibility decreased with the reactivity of the Maillard reaction partner and with increasing heating time. Proteomic analysis, using tandem mass spectrometry, of raw and heated egg white showed an increase in hydrothermally induced amino acid modifications. In the presence of glucose and methylglyoxal, a Maillard reaction specific increase in arginine modification to hydroimidazolone was observed with increasing heating times. The observed modifications are likely to contribute to a change in the nutritional quality of egg white. Aggregation kinetics of the major egg white protein, ovalbumin, were studied by dynamic light scattering, small angle X-ray scattering, and transmission electron microscopy. Shape determination was only possible for ordered aggregates, but not for disordered aggregates. Prior to heating, ovalbumin molecules in the presence of water and glucose repelled each other in concentrated solution. The presence of NaCl shielded electrostatic repulsion, leading to early onset dimerisation and disordered aggregation upon heating. Methylglyoxal treated ovalbumin formed more ordered aggregates. The scattering of these structures was able to be fitted to cylindrical shape models showing an increase of cylinder length with time while the cylinder diameter remained near constant over 24 hours of heating. In addition, food protein derived amyloid fibril aggregates were characterised. Amyloid fibrils are a common ordered protein fold that has been linked to neurodegenerative diseases. In the recent literature, amyloid fibrils have been proposed as new functional macromolecules in proteinaceous foods because of their desirable textural properties. Food fibrils formed from whey, egg white, soy bean and kidney bean protein were tested to establish whether they are protease resistant or display toxicity to human Caco-2 cells (a model intestinal cell line). The food fibrils were compared to insulin amyloid fibrils, a well characterised amyloid system. It was shown that the food fibrils displayed some resistance towards in vitro hydrolysis and were not found to be toxic. This work contributes to the understanding of food protein aggregation and digestibility under relevant conditions. It highlights the relationship of aggregate structure and digestibility and the particular role of the Maillard reaction. Moreover, evidence is provided that food protein derived amyloid fibrils may be safe ingredients in consumables. These findings may contribute to optimising industrial food processes and creating safe new food products.

Submitted by Automa??o e Estat?stica (sst@bczm.ufrn.br) on 2016-05-30T22:35:17Z No. of bitstreams: 1 WildsonArcanjoDeMorais_TESE.pdf: 7950168 bytes, checksum: 6a3da8d5da57db90a9fa474b79780a53 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Arlan Eloi Leite Silva (eloihistoriador@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-06-01T21:32:38Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 WildsonArcanjoDeMorais_TESE.pdf: 7950168 bytes, checksum: 6a3da8d5da57db90a9fa474b79780a53 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-01T21:32:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 WildsonArcanjoDeMorais_TESE.pdf: 7950168 bytes, checksum: 6a3da8d5da57db90a9fa474b79780a53 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-18 / A ind?stria de petr?leo necessita de v?rias subst?ncias qu?micas em seus processos de extra??o e investe em novas tecnologias a todo o momento. Os sistemas micelares do tipo-minhoca-WLM e os complexos polieletrol?ticos-PECs est?o sendo estudados para ingressar como novas tecnologias na extra??o de ?leo. Esta tese objetiva obter, caracterizar e identificar esses sistemas coloidais utilizando t?cnicas de espalhamento de luz como principais ferramentas; possibilitando o conhecimento de base para poss?veis aplica??es na ind?stria petrol?fera. Os par?metros obtidos no DLS, b, GC e n sofreram transi??es na concentra??o tensoativo/co-tensoativo 200g/L. A adi??o da fase ?leo, xileno, dificulta a transi??o de micelas esf?ricas para micelas minhoca. No SAXS, a rela??o RG,O/ RG,S atinge um m?ximo que corrobora com a transi??o no DLS. b aumenta bruscamente, n se torna mais homog?neo, GC,2 e a contribui??o para o segundo processo, f2, foram visualizados para raz?es poli?nion/polic?tion WAC pr?ximas de 2. Essa regi?o, no SAXS, aglomerados de PECs se adsorvem nas part?culas prim?rias, que contribuiu para o comportamento dos gr?ficos de Kratky. As fun??es P(r) perdem seu formato ?sino? e se alargam. As contribui??es de ?rea S17 e S29 foram maiores para menores valores de WAC e S37 foi influente em valores maiores. / The oil industry needs various chemicals compounds in their extraction processes and invests in new technologies all the time. Worm-like micelles-WLM and polyelectrolyte complexes-PECs have been studied to join as new technologias in oil extraction processes. This thesis aims to obtain, characterize and identify these colloidal systems using as a tool light scattering experiments; enabling the required knowledge to applied them in oil industry. To the surfactants systems, the parameters from DLS, b, GC and n in a function of surfactant/co-surfactant concentrations suffered transitions around 200 g/L. The addition of oil phase, xylene, hinders the transition from spherical micelles to worm-like micelles. In SAXS, the ratio RG,O/ RG,S reaches a maximum value which corroborates with the transition in DLS. To PECs, b increases sharply, n becomes more homogeneous, GC,2 and second contribution to the process, f2, were visualized for polyanion/polycation ratio with WAC next 2. This region in SAXS, PECs clusters adsorb in primary particles, which contributed to the behavior of Kratky graphics. The pair distribution functin, P(r), lose its bell shape and widen. The S17 and S29 were higher for lower values of WAC ratio. S37 was influential in higher values.

Le développement et l’utilisation des nanomatériaux, matériaux constitués d’éléments dont au moins une dimension est comprise entre 0.2 nm et 100 nm, suivent une croissance exponentielle. L’intérêt pour ces nouveaux matériaux s’explique par le développement de nouvelles propriétés modulables en fonction de la taille et la forme des nanocomposants. Dans le cadre de ce travail, le mécanisme de formation de nanoparticules d’or, l’étude de leurs interactions avec des acides aminés et l’élaboration de supra-réseaux de nanoparticules d’or fonctionnalisées avec des oligonucléotides ont été investigués.L’étude, par spectroscopie d’absorption UV-Visible et par Résonance Magnétique Nucléaire (RMN), de la synthèse des nanoparticules d’or via la méthode dite de Turkevich a permis de clarifier le rôle du citrate durant la nucléation et la croissance des nanoparticules ainsi que l’effet du pH du milieu réactionnel sur le déroulement de la réaction. Nous avons montré que, pour obtenir une distribution de taille étroite, le pH de la solution doit être contrôlé de façon à ce que le citrate soit polydéprotonné et que les complexes d’Au(III) ne se trouvent pas sous une forme polyhydroxylé. Grâce au suivi in operando de la synthèse par RMN 1H, et plus précisément par la mesure du coefficient de diffusion (DOSY) des espèces présentes en solution, nous avons pu mettre en évidence la formation d’assemblages supramoléculaires lors de la nucléation des particules. Ces assemblages sont composés de molécules de citrates et d’atomes d’Au(I) ou Au(0). Nous avons donc pu démontrer que le citrate n’est pas seulement, comme décrit dans la littérature, un agent réducteur de l’Au(III) en Au(0) et un agent protecteur permettant d’éviter l’agrégation des nanoparticules, mais qu’il joue surtout le rôle crucial d’agent de nucléation.Nous nous sommes également intéressés à l’interaction entre des nanoparticules d’or et des acides aminés. Plusieurs études rapportées dans la littérature mettent en avant l’apparition d’une seconde bande d’absorption plasmon lorsque des acides aminés sont ajoutés à des colloïdes d’or ainsi que l’agrégation des particules sous forme de structures linéaires. Deux hypothèses sont émises pour expliquer la formation de ces structures. La première suggère que les acides aminés s’adsorbent à la surface des particules de manière anisotrope suite à l’interaction favorable entre leurs têtes zwitterioniques. Cette anisotropie créerait un dipôle électrique à travers des particules et mènerait à leur alignement. La seconde hypothèse propose que certains acides aminés interagissent spécifiquement via leur chaîne latérale avec la surface des particules. Leurs têtes zwitterioniques formeraient des liens hydrogènes avec celles d’acides aminés adsorbés sur une autre particule ce qui provoquerait l’agrégation des nanoparticules en structures linéaires. Nous avons étudié les interactions entre des nanoparticules d’or et certains acides aminés par spectroscopie d’absorption UV-Visible, par diffusion dynamique de la lumière (DLS), par mesure de potentiel zêta et par microscopie électronique à transmission (TEM). Nos expériences ont mis en évidence que les interactions entre têtes zwitterioniques ne seraient pas à l’origine de l’agrégation des nanoparticules. Nos résultats montrent que le régime d’agrégation des colloïdes est limité par la diffusion (DLCA) et que deux paramètres contrôlent cette agrégation. Le premier est la charge globale de l’acide aminé qui influence directement la force ionique de la solution ;le second est la facilité avec laquelle la molécule est capable d’interagir avec la surface des nanoparticules et modifier son potentiel de surface. Le calcul du potentiel total d’interaction entre nanoparticules à l’aide de la théorie de Derjaguin, Landau, Verwey et Overbeek (DLVO) a confirmé les paramètres clés mis en évidence par les expériences. Notre dernière étude a porté sur une approche Bottom-Up pour élaborer des supra-réseaux à partir de nanoparticules d’or fonctionnalisées avec des oligonucléotides. La méthode investiguée consiste à mélanger deux lots de nanoparticules d’or fonctionnalisées au préalable à l’aide d’oligonucléotides complémentaires. Cette approche bioinspirée a été adoptée car elle permet un contrôle précis de la structure grâce à l’appariement hautement spécifique entre oligonucléotides complémentaires. L’influence de différents paramètres sur la stabilité thermique des assemblages a été observée. Nous avons pu démontrer que plus la distance interparticulaire est importante, plus les assemblages sont stables et que la stabilité augmente aussi avec le nombre de bases complémentaires. La fonctionnalisation de nanoparticules d’or à l’aide d’oligonucléotides de tailles différentes a également permis de mettre en exergue la coopérativité du processus d’assemblage. Nos résultats ont établi que les appariements les plus longs gouvernent le processus d’assemblage et ce, quel que soit leur nombre sur les particules. / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur et technologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The main objective of this study was the formulation of food-grade water-in-oil (W/O) nano-dispersions based mainly on medium or long-chain triglycerides. Two types of dispersions were formulated and structurally compared, namely emulsions and microemulsions. The systems were used as matrices for encapsulating targeted bioactive molecules with specific characteristics such as antioxidants or peptides. The structural characterization of the formulated systems was investigated using techniques such as Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), Cryogenic Transmission Electron Microscopy (Cryo-TEM) and Small Angle Xray Scattering (SAXS). The existence of swollen inverse micelles was revealed for the case of microemulsions whereas larger droplets still at the nano-scale were observed for the case of emulsions. Structural differences in the presence of the bioactive molecules or induced by the alteration of components were also observed. In order to study the efficacy of the formulations, the proposed loaded systems were assessed either using EPR spectroscopy or Well Diffusion Assay (WDA) depending on the bioactive molecule. It was found that the encapsulated molecules retained their claimed characteristics when encapsulated to the proposed matrices. Finally, some of the formulated dispersions were investigated for their behavior under gastrointestinal (GI) conditions. A two-step digestion model using recombinant Dog Gastric Lipase (rDGL) and Porcine Pancreatic Lipase (PPL) was proposed to simulate lipid hydrolysis in humans. The studies revealed significant decrease of the rDGL specific activity in the presence of the microemulsion while in the presence of lower percent of surfactants (case of emulsion) no alterations were observed.

La poudre de boehmite, précurseur de l’alumine utilisée pour la production de supports catalytiques variés, est produite suite à une étape de séchage par atomisation. Cet oxyhydroxyde d’aluminium est composé de particules anisotropes chargées. Ces dernières années, il a été ont montré que les propriétés physico-chimiques des suspensions avaient une influence sur les caractéristiques des poudres. La morphologie des grains (sphère creuse, tore…) ainsi que les propriétés des poudres (dispersibilité, résistance mécanique…) peuvent être modifiées en jouant sur les caractéristiques des suspensions.Ce travail de thèse porte sur la compréhension des liens entre les propriétés physico-chimiques et rhéologiques de suspensions de deux boehmites industrielles et les propriétés des grains obtenus après séchage. Dans une première partie, nous avons caractérisé les particules en suspension de ces deux boehmites grâce à une approche multi-technique (SAXS, DLS, MET). Une étude rhéologique des suspensions obtenues par stress osmotique a ensuite permis de construire précisément le diagramme de phase de ces deux boehmites dans le plan force ionique – fraction volumique. La diffusion des rayons X aux petits angles et la diffusion dynamique de la lumière ont été utilisées pour déterminer l’organisation structurale des suspensions. Enfin, des expériences de séchage suivies optiquement et par micro-tomographie X ont été réalisées sur des suspensions de boehmite afin d’étudier l’impact de la concentration et de la force ionique sur l’évolution de la goutte au cours du séchage. / In the catalyst supports industry, one important step of alumina powder production is the spray-drying of boehmite suspensions. This aluminium oxyhydroxyde is often used as precursor for various types of alumina catalyst supports. Boehmite is composed of anisotropic particles bearing an electric charge. In the past decade, it has been shown that the properties of the dry powder depend not only on the drying conditions but on physico-chemical properties of the sprayed suspensions. For instance, different grains morphologies (doughnut-shaped grains, hollow spheres,…) as well as various dry grains properties (textural properties, mechanical resistance,…) may be obtained by tuning the physico-chemical properties of the suspension.This study focus on the understanding of the links between the physico-chemical properties of suspensions of two industrial boehmites and the characteristics of the final dry grain. Since these two boehmites were not well-known, the first step of the study was to characterize boehmite particles present in suspension thanks to a multi-technical approach. A rheological study was performed on boehmite suspensions obtained thanks to osmotic stress to build precisely the phase diagrams of the both boehmites according to the system of ionic strength vs. volume fraction. Small angle X ray scattering and dynamic light scattering were used to investigate the existence of an orientational order of boehmite particles in suspension. Finally, drying experiments of boehmite suspensions were conducted on an optical set-up and on fast micro-tomography X, to examine the impact of both concentration and ionic strength on the evolution of the droplet during drying.

L’objectif de ce travail de thèse était de développer des encres organiques de polymères semi-conducteurs. Il s’est ainsi agi de synthétiser des latex de poly (3,4-éthylènedioxythiophène) (PEDOT) dispersibles en milieux organiques (cyclohexane ou toluène) par polymérisation oxydative de l’EDOT en présence de stabilisant stériques et/ou électrostatiques. Le stabilisant est un polymère fonctionnalisé par une unité ou plusieurs unités fonctionnelles qui peuvent réagir avec la chaîne de PEDOT en croissance assurant ainsi des liaisons covalentes ou électrostatiques entre celui-ci et le stabilisant. La taille des particules de PEDOT est contrôlée par la masse molaire, la concentration et par la fonctionnalité du stabilisant. Le PEDOT obtenu est caractérisé par diffusion de la lumière (DLS), par microscopie électronique à balayage (MEB) microscopie électronique à transmission (TEM) et par des mesures de conductivité. / Spherical poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) nano-particles with narrow size distribution were prepared in organic dispersant media in the presence of iron(III) chloride FeCl3 or iron(III) dodecylbenzenesulfonate {Fe(DBS)3} as oxidant and a functionalized polyisoprene (ω-R-PI) as a stabilizer. Two kinds of functionalized polyisoprene were used as stabilizers. Pyrrole, fluorene, Thiophene and methylthiophene end caped polyisoprenes were used as reactive stabilizers. Lithium sulfonate end caped polyisoprene was used as steric stabilizer. The effect of the nature of the solvent, the molar mass, the concentration, and the nature of the functional end unit of the stabilizer on the size and morphology of PEDOT particles were investigated. Polyisoprenes containing sulfonate groups were also used as steric/electrostatic stabilizers. By this way, the sulfonate groups act as counter ions for oxidized PEDOT leading to electrostatic attraction between it and the stabilizer, ensuring stabilization of the latex. Four kinds of polyisoprene-based steric electrostatic stabilizers having one or many sulfonate groups were prepared: sulfonate end-capped polyisoprene (PI-SO3Li), partially sulfonated polyisoprene (PIS), polyisoprene grafted to polystyrene sulfonate (PI-g-PSS) and polyisoprene grafted to polyisoprene sulfonate (PI-g-PIS). The effects of the molar mass of the stabilizer and the sulfonate group content on the PEDOT particle morphology were studied.PEDOT samples were characterized with transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis and conductivity measurements.

The aim of this master thesis is synthesis of SiO2/Au core/shell nanoparticles. These nanoparticles should improve the signal of optical coherence tomography (OCT). The procedure of nanoparticle synthesis is described in the work. Synthetized nanoparticles were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Ultraviolet-Visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Dynamic light scattering (DLS). Then, the synthetized nanoparticles were tested for enhancement of OCT signal. For this testing were also used commercial nanoparticles with the same structure and similar size.

Orientador: João Ruggiero Neto / Resumo: Os peptídeos sintéticos L1A (IDGLKAIWKKVADLLKNT-NH2, Q = +3e) e seu análogo acetilado (acL1A, Q = +2e) utilizados neste estudo foram projetados para que tenham características estruturais semelhantes ao peptídeo Polybia-MP1 extraído do veneno da vespa Polybia paulista, em que um dos dois resíduos ácidos ocupa a segunda posição na região Nterminal, e resíduos básicos são terceiros e/ou quartos vizinhos dos resíduos ácidos. Esses peptídeos possuem significativa atividade bactericida seletiva para bactérias Gram-negativas, especialmente Escherichia coli, sem serem hemolíticos. Estudos anteriores, em sistemas modelo, demonstraram que a acetilação do N-terminal resultou no aumento da atividade lítica em vesículas aniônicas (8POPC/2POPG) em comparação com o L1A, o que sugeriu perturbação do empacotamento lipídico de modo mais eficaz para o análogo que é menos carregado. Considerando que a membrana plasmática de bactérias Gram-negativas contém majoritariamente fosfatidiletanolamina (PE) e fosfatidilglicerol (PG), o presente trabalho propôs investigar o impacto dos peptídeos L1A e acL1A em membranas modelo compostas por 3POPE/1DOPG utilizando uma variedade de técnicas experimentais. Os resultados demonstraram que ambos os peptídeos induziram segregação lipídica, sendo o análogo acetilado mais eficiente em recrutar PG e segregar PE. / Abstract: The synthetic peptides L1A (IDGLKAIWKKVADLLKNT-NH2, Q = +3e) and its acetylated analog (acL1A, Q = +2e) used in this study were designed to have some structural features similar to the peptide Polybia-MP1 extracted from the venom of the wasp Polybia paulista, in which one of the acidic residues occupies the second position on the N-terminus region and basic residues are third and/or fourth neighbors of the acidic residues. These peptides display significant bactericidal activity against Gram-negative bacteria, especially Escherichia coli, being non-hemolytic. Previous work performed in model membrane systems has shown that the N-terminal acetylation led to an increase on the lytic activity in anionic vesicles (8POPC/2POPG) compared with L1A, suggesting that the less charged peptide has higher ability to perturb the lipid-packing. Considering that the Gram-negative cell membranes contain mainly phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylglycerol (PG), the present work proposed to investigate the impact of L1A and acL1A on model membranes composed of 3POPE/1DOPG using a variety of experimental techniques. The results suggested that both peptides induced lipid segregation being the acetylated analog more efficient in recruiting PG and segregating PE. / Mestre

Protein Nkr-p1b is a surface receptor of cytotoxic NK cells, that mediates inhibitory signal toward the body's own cells. In this study, the ligand binding domain of the mouse protein receptor Nkr-p1b (mNkr-p1b LBD) was prepared by recombinant expression in E. coli cells. Isolated protein was subsequently used for NMR structural analysis. Prediction of protein secondary structures ratio was carried out using three different methods (CD, PSIPRED and TALOS). Results correlate well with the structure of CTLD domain, that plays a key role in ligand binding and thus to function of Nkr-p1b receptor. We managed to prepare this protein in a form suitable for NMR experiments. Based on the data obtained by NMR spectra analysis, a preliminary model of the mNkr-p1b LBD protein structure was created. However, for more precise learning of the 3D structure accurate positions of individual atoms need to be determined by other NMR spectra evaluation in the next phase. Explaining the structure of the ligand binding domain of mNkr-p1b protein could help to better understand the complex mechanism of activation of NK cell cytotoxic activity, thereby contributing to its controlled use as a therapeutic against some viral and tumor diseases.

Scaffolds are proteins with high conformational stability, allowing us to implement multiple mutations into specific parts of the protein. Even with these mutations, the structural integrity of the protein is maintained as well as its physical-chemical properties. These mutations give the specific scaffold new properties. In most cases it is the binding specificity towards previously chosen target. The biggest advantages of scaffolds are their small size, stability, low-cost manufacturing, and easiness of preparation. Scaffold utilized in this thesis is unique for having two binging surfaces designed on which it can be mutated. Each of those two surfaces can be separately mutated to develop a binging site for two different proteins. In our case these mutations led to binding two nonidentical receptors of a human cytokine. Mutations are made with a use of yeast display, one of the methods of directed evolution. The main focus of this thesis is changing an expression system of the binding proteins from the yeast system to a bacterial one, their production and purification followed by characterization of those binding proteins using biophysical methods. These methods were used to evaluate structural and thermal stability, and binding affinity to both receptors of the beforementioned binding proteins....