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Mechanical Stimulation of Chondrocyte-agarose Hydrogels
Published on: October 27, 2012
Morphology evolution and gelation mechanism of alkali induced konjac glucomannan hydrogel
Yun Zhou1, Runsheng Jiang2, Wade S Perkins3
1Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Food Nutrition and Human Health, College of Food Science & Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China; College of Food Science, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
Abstract:
A molecular-level mechanism of alkali induced konjac glucomannan (KGM) hydrogel gelation processing is considered with the application of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM) as complementary methods to diffusive wave spectroscopy (DWS) microrheology and thermoanalysis. It is shown that deacetylation of KGM chains occurs immediately upon mixing with Na2CO3, inducing self-packaging. Partial unfolding of the packed loose structure of dehydrated KGM is observed upon heating. The configuration transition from random coils to self-assembling filament networks takes place before KGM aggregating to form large irreversible bundles with a lower degree of cross-linking. The gelation is not fulfilled until the temperature is increased to above 70 °C when the significant agglomeration is initiated among transitional fibrils to form junction zones essentially composed of acetyl-free portions. This suggests the intermolecular aggregation of KGM chains not simply regarding to hydrogen bonds, but essentially relating to hydrophobic interactions.
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