A saliva molecular imprinted localized surface plasmon resonance biosensor for wine astringency estimation

In Situ Oral Metabolism Analysis of Astringent Compounds in Tea by Paper Spray Mass Spectrometry, Electrospray Mass Spectrometry, Turbidimetry, and Sensory Evaluation

The phenolic compounds (PCs) are the primary components responsible for the astringency of tea infusions, and this astringency is intricately linked to the in situ oral metabolism of PCs in saliva. Initially, a total of 54 PCs were identified in tea infusions by electrospray mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). Subsequently, an in vivo metabolism analysis of PCs during varying drinking times and oral locations was conducted by both paper spray mass spectrometry (PS-MS) and sensory evaluation. The metabolism of PCs within oral saliva was a prolonged process, the residual PCs were distributed across diverse oral regions after drinking tea infusion, and the higher residual PC content reflected the stronger astringency intensity. Furthermore, an in vitro metabolism analysis of PCs under varied reaction temperatures and durations was performed by ESI-MS and turbidimetry. As the reaction time extended, more PCs in tea was interacting with saliva. Moreover, the higher temperatures facilitated this interaction between PCs and saliva. Therefore, this investigation establishes a foundation for further elucidating the mechanisms underlying astringency formation.

Astringency and its sub-qualities: a review of astringency mechanisms and methods for measuring saliva lubrication

Astringency is an important mouthfeel attribute that influences the sensory experiences of many food and beverage products. While salivary lubricity loss and increased oral friction were previously believed to be the only astringency mechanisms, recent research has demonstrated that nontactile oral receptors can trigger astringency by responding to astringents without mechanical stimulation. Various human factors have also been identified that affect individual responses to astringents. This article presents a critical review of the key research milestones contributing to the current understanding of astringency mechanisms and the instrumental approaches used to quantify perceived astringency intensity. Although various chemical assays or physical measures mimic in-mouth processes involved in astringent mouthfeel, this review highlights how one chemical or physical approach can only provide a single measure of astringency determined by a specific mechanism. Subsequently, using a single measurement to predict astringency perception is overly idealistic. Astringency has not been quantified beyond the loss of saliva lubrication; therefore, nontactile receptor-based responses must also be explored. An important question remains about whether astringency is a single perception or involves distinct sub-qualities such as pucker, drying, and roughness. Although these sub-quality lexicons have been frequently cited, most studies currently view astringency as a single perception rather than dividing it into sub-qualities and investigating the potentially independent mechanisms of each. Addressing these knowledge gaps should be an important priority for future research.

Paper chromatography approach for the assessment of interaction between red wine and whole saliva

In-mouth interaction of red wine compounds with salivary proteins is a primary event allegedly responsible for eliciting the mouth-feel sensation of astringency. Those interactions have been currently associated with precipitation of salivary protein/polyphenol complexes. However, such single physicochemical evidence for interaction does not account for the complexity of astringency. This study aimed to develop a paper chromatography method to assess interactions between red wine and the salivary protein fraction using stepwise series of red wine/saliva binary mixtures from 100% wine to 100% saliva ("Alpha and Omega series"). Aliquots of each one of the mixtures were spotted on a cellulose membrane to scrutinize independently the distribution areas of wine components (naturally pink-colored) and salivary protein (stained blue in Coomassie Brilliant R-250). This double target detection revealed interactions between saliva and red wine components along most of the quantitative Alpha and Omega series, a point of equivalence corresponding to maximum interactivity for both complex reactants and a non-diffusible sub-fraction of saliva displaying the highest interactivity. The results indicate a novel way to assess quantitatively physicochemical interactions between red wines and human saliva but also provide new lights to approach the identification of molecular salivary structures involved in triggering astringency.

Recent Developments in the Detection of Organic Contaminants Using Molecularly Imprinted Polymers Combined with Various Analytical Techniques

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) encompass a diverse array of polymeric matrices that exhibit the unique capacity to selectively identify a designated template molecule through specific chemical moieties. Thanks to their pivotal attributes, including exceptional selectivity, extended shelf stability, and other distinct characteristics, this class of compounds has garnered interest in the development of highly responsive sensor systems. As a result, the incorporation of MIPs in crafting distinctive sensors and analytical procedures tailored for specific analytes across various domains has increasingly become a common practice within contemporary analytical chemistry. Furthermore, the range of polymers amenable to MIP formulation significantly influences the potential utilization of both conventional and innovative analytical methodologies. This versatility expands the array of possibilities in which MIP-based sensing can be employed in recognition systems. The following review summarizes the notable progress achieved within the preceding seven-year period in employing MIP-based sensing techniques for analyte determination.

An advantageous application of molecularly imprinted polymers in food processing and quality control

In the global market era, food product control is very challenging. It is impossible to track and control all production and delivery chains not only for regular customers but also for the State Sanitary Inspections. Certified laboratories currently use accurate food safety and quality inspection methods. However, these methods are very laborious and costly. The present review highlights the need to develop fast, robust, and cost-effective analytical assays to determine food contamination. Application of the molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) as selective recognition units for chemosensors' fabrication was herein explored. MIPs enable fast and inexpensive electrochemical and optical transduction, significantly improving detectability, sensitivity, and selectivity. MIPs compromise durability of synthetic materials with a high affinity to target analytes and selectivity of molecular recognition. Imprinted molecular cavities, present in MIPs structure, are complementary to the target analyte molecules in terms of size, shape, and location of recognizing sites. They perfectly mimic natural molecular recognition. The present review article critically covers MIPs' applications in selective assays for a wide range of food products. Moreover, numerous potential applications of MIPs in the food industry, including sample pretreatment before analysis, removal of contaminants, or extraction of high-value ingredients, are discussed.

The Impact of Storage Conditions and Bottle Orientation on the Evolution of Phenolic and Volatile Compounds of Vintage Port Wine

This work evaluates the influence of the cellar conditions and bottle orientation, on the phenolic and volatile composition of a Vintage Port wine, sealed with natural cork stoppers, for 44 months post-bottling. The storage was performed in two different cellars, namely a cellar A with controlled temperature and humidity, and a cellar B, representing a traditional cellar, with uncontrolled temperature and humidity. The impact of bottle orientation was studied in cellar A, where the bottles were stored in horizontal and vertical positions. The phenolic and volatile composition of the bottled Vintage Port wine were analyzed after 6, 15 and 44 months. The results unveiled that the cellar conditions and bottle orientation had an impact in Port wine composition which was higher at 44 months post-bottling. The samples stored in the traditional cellar unveiled significantly higher yellow tones, lower tannin specific activity, and higher levels of furfural and 5-methylfurfural. Furthermore, the samples stored in the horizontal position revealed significant higher levels of total proanthocyanidins and higher tannin specific activity than the samples stored in the vertical position. Interestingly, for the first time to our knowledge, an ellagitannin-derived compound (Corklin) was detected in Vintage Port wines stored in the horizontal position, which results from the reaction of cork constituents with phenolic compounds present in wines.

Molecular basis of the formation and removal of fruit astringency

Astringency is a dry puckering mouthfeel mainly generated by the binding of tannins with proteins in the mouth. Tannins confer benefits such as resistance to biotic stresses and have antioxidant activity, and moderate concentrations of tannins can improve the flavor of fruits or their products. However, fruits with high contents of tannins have excessive astringency, which is undesirable. Thus, the balance of astringency formation and removal is extremely important for human consumption of fruit and fruit-based products. In recent years, the understanding of fruit astringency has moved beyond the biochemical aspects to focus on the genetic characterization of key structural genes and their transcriptional regulators that cause astringency. This article provides an overview of astringency formation and evaluation. We summarize the methods of astringency regulation and strategies and mechanisms for astringency removal, and discuss perspectives for future exploration and modulation of astringency for fruit quality improvement.

Detection of Oenological Polyphenols via QCM-D Measurements

Polyphenols are a family of compounds present in grapes, musts, and wines. Their dosage is associated with the grape ripening, correct must fermentation, and final wine properties. Owing to their anti-inflammatory properties, they are also relevant for health applications. To date, such compounds are detected mainly via standard chemical analysis, which is costly for constant monitoring and requires a specialized laboratory. Cheap and portable sensors would be desirable to reduce costs and speed up measurements. This paper illustrates the development of strategies for sensor surface chemical functionalization for polyphenol detection. We perform measurements by using a commercial quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring apparatus. Chemical functionalizations are based on proteins (bovine serum albumin and gelatin type A) or customized peptides derived from istatine-5 and murine salivary protein-5. Commercial oenological additives containing pure gallic tannins or proanthocyanidins, dissolved in water or commercial wine, are used for the analysis. Results indicate that selected functionalizations enable the detection of the two different tannin families, suggesting a relationship between the recorded signal and concentration. Gelatin A also demonstrates the ability to discriminate gallic tannins from proanthocyanidins. Outcomes are promising and pave the way for the exploitation of such devices for precision oenology.

Amplified plasmonic and microfluidic setup for DNA monitoring

Plasmonic nanosensors for label-free detection of DNA require excellent sensing resolution, which is crucial when monitoring short DNA sequences, as these induce tiny peak shifts, compared to large biomolecules. We report a versatile and simple strategy for plasmonic sensor signal enhancement by assembling multiple (four) plasmonic sensors in series. This approach provided a fourfold signal enhancement, increased signal-to-noise ratio, and improved sensitivity for DNA detection. The response of multiple sensors based on AuNSpheres was also compared with  AuNRods, the latter showing better sensing resolution. The amplification system based on AuNR was integrated into  a microfluidic sequential injection platform and applied to the monitoring of DNA, specifically from environmental invasive species-zebra mussels. DNA from zebra mussels was log concentration-dependent from 1 to 1 × 10⁶ pM, reaching a detection limit of 2.0 pM. In situ tests were also successfully applied to real samples, within less than 45 min, using DNA extracted from zebra mussel meat. The plasmonic nanosensors' signal can be used as a binary output (yes/no) to assess the presence of those invasive species. Even though these genosensors were applied to the monitoring of DNA in environmental samples, they potentially offer advantage in a wide range of fields, such as disease diagnostics.

SP, N. M, Barik AK, Pai KM, Unnikrishnan VK, George SD, Kartha VB, Chidangil S. Photonics of human saliva: potential optical methods for the screening of abnormal health conditions and infections

Human saliva can be treated as a pool of biological markers able to reflect on the state of personal health. Recent years have witnessed an increase in the use of optical devices for the analysis of body fluids. Several groups have carried out studies investigating the potential of saliva as a non-invasive and reliable clinical specimen for use in medical diagnostics. This brief review aims to highlight the optical technologies, mainly surface plasmon resonance (SPR), Raman, and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, which are being used for the probing of saliva for diverse biomedical applications. Advances in bio photonics offer the promise of unambiguous, objective and fast detection of abnormal health conditions and viral infections (such as COVID-19) from the analysis of saliva.

Real-Time Analysis of Polyphenol-Protein Interactions by Surface Plasmon Resonance Using Surface-Bound Polyphenols

A selection of bioactive polyphenols of different structural classes, such as the ellagitannins vescalagin and vescalin, the flavanoids catechin, epicatechin, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), and procyanidin B2, and the stilbenoids resveratrol and piceatannol, were chemically modified to bear a biotin unit for enabling their immobilization on streptavidin-coated sensor chips. These sensor chips were used to evaluate in real time by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) the interactions of three different surface-bound polyphenolic ligands per sensor chip with various protein analytes, including human DNA topoisomerase IIα, flavonoid leucoanthocyanidin dioxygenase, B-cell lymphoma 2 apoptosis regulator protein, and bovine serum albumin. The types and levels of SPR responses unveiled major differences in the association, or lack thereof, and dissociation between a given protein analyte and different polyphenolic ligands. Thus, this multi-analysis SPR technique is a valuable methodology to rapidly screen and qualitatively compare various polyphenol-protein interactions.

Polyphenolic Characterization of Nebbiolo Red Wines and Their Interaction with Salivary Proteins

The present study correlates the polyphenolic composition of two different Nebbiolo red wines from the 2015 vintage (M and P), with the salivary proteins’ precipitation process. The work centered on the polyphenolic characterization of Nebbiolo wines and their interaction with different families of salivary proteins. Overall, both wines were found to be very reactive with human saliva which was supposed to contribute to their astringent character. The comparison of both wines showed that the M wine presented higher values of total phenolics, total proanthocyanidins, and tannin specific activity. Moreover, this wine showed a higher interaction with salivary proteins. Altogether, the chemical characterization and reactivity toward human saliva could contribute to the wine astringency.

Sensory variability associated with anthocyanic and tannic fractions isolated from red wines

Tannins and anthocyanins are important modulators of the intrinsic quality of red wines, playing a major role in consumer preference and appreciation. Tannins are chiefly responsible for the astringency in wines although their role in eliciting different astringent subqualities is still relatively unknown. On the other hand, the sensory contribution of anthocyanic fractions is even less clear. The main aim of the present study was to assess whether anthocyanic fractions from red wine elicit specific mouthfeel and taste attributes that differ from their tannin counterparts, and to evaluate the contribution of anthocyanic and tannic fractions to taste and mouthfeel of red wines. Isolation of tannin (F_tannin) and anthocyanin (F_antho) fractions from 20 wines involved reversed-phase semipreparative liquid chromatography followed by solid phase extraction. The 40 derived fractions subsequently underwent sensory characterisation using a labelled sorting task and a rate-K attributes method. Bitterness and dryness were the salient attributes differing among the sensory spaces of both F_antho and F_tannin. Likewise, other independent and non-correlated mouthfeel dimensions differed for both F_antho ("grainy" and mouthcoating") and F_tannin ("gummy"). A significant linear model predicting wine dryness from the "dry" intensity of F_antho and F_tannin was obtained, with tannic fractions presenting a higher contribution than anthocyanic fractions. These results not only confirmed that tannins have a major implication in red wine dryness but also unequivocally demonstrated a relevant implication of certain anthocyanins in this attribute. In contrast, bitterness of the original wines could not be directly related to the bitterness perceived in any of the two groups of fractions. The addition of an extremely bitter anthocyanic fraction to wines only increased bitterness in certain wines, suggesting that bitterness in wines may result from perceptual interactions and that some wines contain strong bitterness suppressors.

Sensorial Perception of Astringency: Oral Mechanisms and Current Analysis Methods

Understanding consumers' food choices and the psychological processes involved in their preferences is crucial to promote more mindful eating regulation and guide food design. Fortifying foods minimizing the oral dryness, rough, and puckering associated with many functional ingredients has been attracting interest in understanding oral astringency over the years. A variety of studies have explored the sensorial mechanisms and the food properties determining astringency perception. The present review provides a deeper understanding of astringency, a general view of the oral mechanisms involved, and the exciting variety of the latest methods used to direct and indirectly quantify and simulate the astringency perception and the specific mechanisms involved.

Recent Progress in Optical Sensors for Biomedical Diagnostics

In recent years, several types of optical sensors have been probed for their aptitude in healthcare biosensing, making their applications in biomedical diagnostics a rapidly evolving subject. Optical sensors show versatility amongst different receptor types and even permit the integration of different detection mechanisms. Such conjugated sensing platforms facilitate the exploitation of their neoteric synergistic characteristics for sensor fabrication. This paper covers nearly 250 research articles since 2016 representing the emerging interest in rapid, reproducible and ultrasensitive assays in clinical analysis. Therefore, we present an elaborate review of biomedical diagnostics with the help of optical sensors working on varied principles such as surface plasmon resonance, localised surface plasmon resonance, evanescent wave fluorescence, bioluminescence and several others. These sensors are capable of investigating toxins, proteins, pathogens, disease biomarkers and whole cells in varied sensing media ranging from water to buffer to more complex environments such as serum, blood or urine. Hence, the recent trends discussed in this review hold enormous potential for the widespread use of optical sensors in early-stage disease prediction and point-of-care testing devices.

Under-Etched Plasmonic Disks on Indium Tin Oxide for Enhanced Refractive Index Sensing on a Combined Electrochemical and Optical Platform

A simple approach to enhance the refractive index sensitivity of gold nanodisks immobilized on electrically conducting indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates has been demonstrated. A two-fold increase in sensitivity to bulk refractive index change was achieved by substrate under-etching of gold nanodisks on ITO in 50 mM sulfuric acid. The influence of an intermediate titanium adhesion layer was investigated and was found to markedly influence the etching pattern and time. Etching with an adhesion layer resulted in enhanced refractive index sensitivity on disk-on-pin like structures after long etching times, whereas etching of disks deposited directly on ITO resulted in a disk-on-pincushion like configuration and similarly enhanced sensitivity already at shorter times. The gold disks remained electrically connected to the ITO substrate throughout etching and allowed site-specific electrodeposition of poly(3-aminophenol) at the nanodisks, showing enhanced thin-film refractive index sensitivity. This work demonstrates a simple method for enhancing refractive index sensitivity of nanostructures on ITO substrates for combined electrochemical and optical platforms, and subsequently a method to modify the surface of the electrically connected nanostructures, which has potential application in biosensing.

Molecularly Imprinted Polymer-Based Hybrid Materials for the Development of Optical Sensors

We report on the development of new optical sensors using molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) combined with different materials and explore the novel strategies followed in order to overcome some of the limitations found during the last decade in terms of performance. This review pretends to offer a general overview, mainly focused on the last 3 years, on how the new fabrication procedures enable the synthesis of hybrid materials enhancing not only the recognition ability of the polymer but the optical signal. Introduction describes MIPs as biomimetic recognition elements, their properties and applications, emphasizing on each step of the fabrication/recognition procedure. The state of the art is presented and the change in the publication trend between electrochemical and optical sensor devices is thoroughly discussed according to the new fabrication and micro/nano-structuring techniques paving the way for a new generation of MIP-based optical sensors. We want to offer the reader a different perspective based on the materials science in contrast to other overviews. Different substrates for anchoring MIPs are considered and distributed in different sections according to the dimensionality and the nature of the composite, highlighting the synergetic effect obtained as a result of merging both materials to achieve the final goal.

Improved control on the morphology and LSPR properties of plasmonic Pt NPs through enhanced solid state dewetting by using a sacrificial indium layer

Platinum (Pt) nanoparticles (NPs) are important nano-material components in various catalytic, photonic and electronic applications, yet face challenges in the fabrication of desired morphology and uniformity with the conventional solid-state dewetting approach. Specifically, the necessity of high annealing temperatures, typically above 800 °C due to the low diffusivity of Pt atoms, limits the morphological and functional tunability of Pt NPs. In this work, the fabrication of Pt NPs with an improved configuration, spacing and uniformity is demonstrated through the enhancement of solid state dewetting by using a sacrificial indium (In) layer on sapphire (0001). The well-defined Pt NPs demonstrate the dynamic localized surface plasmon (LSPR) bands in the visible range between ∼400 and 700 nm depending on the size and spacing of NPs. The LSPR peak intensity and width are also varied depending on the uniformity of Pt NPs. The overall dewetting magnitude is significantly enhanced through the inter-mixing of In and Pt atoms at the In/Pt interface that eventually results in the formation of an In–Pt alloy. During the dewetting process the In atoms desorb from the NP matrix by atomic sublimation, which gives rise to pure Pt NP fabrication. In sharp contrast to the pure Pt film dewetting, the Pt NPs in this approach demonstrate significantly improved spatial arrangement with well-defined configuration and uniformity. In addition, the ratio of In can be readily controlled along with the thickness of the Pt layer to alter the dewetting kinetics and thereby the surface morphology of Pt NPs. Specifically, large hexagonal, semi-spherical and small hexagonal Pt NPs are obtained through the dewetting of In_{75 nm}/Pt_{25 nm}, In_{20 nm}/Pt_{20 nm} and In_{2.5 nm}/Pt_{7.5 nm} bilayers respectively.

Fabrication of Pt NPs with the improved configuration, spacing, uniformity and localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) response is demonstrated.

Wine industry by-product: Full polyphenolic characterization of grape stalks

In this research work grape stalk samples from the Douro region were analyzed concerning polyphenolic composition. Different solid-liquid extraction conditions were tested for reaching the optimal parameters to obtain higher amounts of polyphenols. In general, the best conditions comprise the use of a mixture of acetone/ethanol/water (1:1:1) at room temperature during 20 min, using a pre-wash treatment with deionized water. The polyphenolic extractions with acetone are generally more effective than without acetone. Total phenolic determination (Folin-Ciocalteu), antioxidant capacity (DPPH/FRAP) and more accurate methods such as HPLC-DAD and HPLC-ESI-MS were performed. An intensive polyphenolic characterization (including a possible identification of a new polyphenol) and compound quantification was achieved. A comparative study between these two analysis approaches was accomplished, which allowed to conclude that the Folin-Ciocalteu and DPPH/FRAP determinations do not always allow a direct correspondence between high phenolic content or antioxidant/reducing capacity and real high polyphenolic content on crude polyphenolic extracts.