Matching Items (3)
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- All Subjects: Capsaicin
- All Subjects: inflammation
- Creators: Cahill, Thomas
- Creators: Hackney Price, Jennifer
Description
Capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin account for 90% of capsaicinoids when it comes to the pungency of peppers. Capsaicin stability was investigated through a cooking and storage parameter where three different tests were done; cooking duration, cooking temperature, and storage stability. The concentration of capsaicinoids was quantified through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry where those values were then used to determine the total Scoville heat units (SHU). Furthermore, half-life was determined by finding the decay rate during cooking and storage. Results showed that there was an increase in degradation of capsaicinoids concentration when peppers were cooked for a long period of time. Degradation rate increases with increasing temperatures as would be expected by the Arrhenius equation. Hence, if a maximum pungency is wanted, it is best to cook the least time as possible or add the peppers towards the end of the culinary technique. This would help by cooking the peppers for a short period of time while not being exposed to the high temperature long enough before significant degradation occurs. Lastly, the storage stability results interpreted that a maximum potency of the peppers can be retained in a freezer or refrigerator opposed to an open room temperature environment or exposure from the sun. Furthermore, the stability of peppers has a long shelf life with even that the worse storage condition's half-life value was 113.5 months (9.5 years). Thus, peppers do not need to be bought frequently because its potency will last for several years.
ContributorsBustamante, Krista Gisselle (Author) / Cahill, Thomas (Thesis director) / Sweat, Ken (Committee member) / Armendariz Guajardo, Jose (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Colchicine is a chemical known for inhibiting mitosis during eukaryotic cellular reproduction by halting the tubulin formation necessary for the division of the chromosomes. The meristem is the primary source of mitosis in developing flowering plants, and it was the focus of our research to determine if the hindrance of mitosis would interfere with the production of capsaicinoids within pungent pepper plants. Moruga Scorpion peppers have one of the world's highest concentration of capsaicinoids with Scoville Heat Units (SHU) averaging 1.2 million SHU (Bannister, 2012). The highest concentration of these capsaicinoids are within the placental and endocarp regions of the fruit, which are the primary location for capsaicinoid biosynthesis (Aza-Gonzalez & Nunez-Palenius, 2010). Hindering mitosis from the earliest stage of development could lead to phenotypic abnormalities within those placental and endocarp regions, quite possibly through the mechanism of the induced polyploidy. In many cases, this polymerization interference is beneficial in cultivating plants with characterized polyploidy due to its desired increased size of fruits and leaves. Due to the lethal nature of colchicine, there is threshold of effectiveness where it may induce polyploidy or it may result in fatality. This first stage of this research sought to determine which lethal dose was required to elicit a polyploid response or lead to seed unviability. The second stage was analyzing capsaicin concentration within the fruit of the mature dosed plants to determine whether there was an effect on the capsaicinoids, and whether polyploidy played a role in those effects. The final inspection of this research was in germinating the seeds from the hottest F1 pepper that had developed the fruit the slowest of all the doses, and determining whether there were any effects on the germination or seedling development.
ContributorsKeppler, Lydia Jacqueline (Author) / Cahill, Thomas (Thesis director) / Sweat, Ken G. (Committee member) / Hackney Price, Jennifer (Committee member) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Proper developmental fidelity ensures uninterrupted progression towards sexual maturity and species longevity. However, early development, the time-frame spanning infancy through adolescence, is a fragile state since organisms have limited mobility and responsiveness towards their environment. Previous studies have shown that damage during development leads to an onset of developmental delay which is proportional to the extent of damage accrued by the organism. In contrast, damage sustained in older organisms does not delay development in response to tissue damage. In the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, damage to wing precursor tissues is associated with developmental retardation if damage is sustained in young larvae. No developmental delay is observed when damage is inflicted closer to pupariation time. Here we use microarray analysis to characterize the genomic response to injury in Drosophila melanogaster in young and old larvae. We also begin to develop tools to examine in more detail, the role that the neurotransmitter dopamine might play in mediating injury-induced developmental delays.
ContributorsContreras Rodriguez, Jesus (Co-author) / Lupone, Teresa (Co-author) / Beckett, Chaz (Co-author) / Almajan, Ashley (Co-author) / Leek, Ty (Co-author) / Hussain, Sabahat (Co-author) / Marsh, Tyler (Co-author) / Broatch, Jennifer (Co-author) / Hackney Price, Jennifer (Thesis director) / Sandrin, Todd (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05