w. in P. fucoides and F. lumbricalis, respectively. 57Co also exhibited similar behaviour in both species of macroalgae, but see more the concentrations were much lower – 846 and 886 Bq kg−1 d.w., respectively. The lowest activity concentration was determined for 85Sr (58 Bq kg−1 d.w.) in F. lumbricalis, whereas in P. fucoides the level of this radionuclide was below the limit of detection. A possible explanation of this fact is the passive adsorption of strontium cations by negatively charged polysaccharides present in the cell wall, which in F. lumbricalis is much thicker. F. lumbricalis belongs

to the buy BAY 73-4506 coarsely branched group of macroalgae with a corticated internal anatomy, according to the Littler functional-form model ( Littler & Littler 1980, Lobban & Harrison 1997), and its external walls form a type of skeleton in which strontium ions may be trapped more efficiently. An index commonly used to compare the bioaccumulation properties of the species under scrutiny

here is the concentration factor (CF), calculated as the ratio of the radionuclide concentration found in an organism to its concentration in seawater (Szefer 2002b). However, the concentration factor can only be related to the steady state conditions found in the natural environment. In the present study, it was not possible to calculate concentration factors, because a steady state was not attained during the experiment, and conditions changed, especially with regard to radionuclide concentrations in the algal

thalli and in the seawater. Hence, it seemed reasonable to suggest another factor, named the ‘interspecific diversity factor’ (ISDFP/F) for the purposes of this study. ISDFP/F is defined as the ratio of the radionuclide concentration in one species (P. fucoides) to its corresponding concentration in another species (F. lumbricalis), as described by the following formula: equation(1) ISDFP/F=APolysiphonia/AFurcellaria.ISDFP/F=APolysiphonia/AFurcellaria. FER This factor enables the bioaccumulation abilities of two species towards a single radionuclide to be compared. In this case, the term ‘bioaccumulation ability’ should be understood as the relationship between the rate of bioaccumulation during a given time interval and the bioaccumulative capacity. However, the simple measurement of radionuclide concentrations does not suffice to distinguish which of these two components is the most influential on the final result.

, 1997). Moore et al. (1994) have shown that cecropins are active against several mammalian lymphomas and leukemias in vitro, and a preliminary in vivo study showed that cecropin B increases the survival time of mice bearing murine ascitic colon adenocarcinoma cells. Chen et al. (1997) synthesized cecropin B-1 (CB-1) by replacing the C-terminal segment of CB (positions 26 to 35, the hydrophobic GW3965 order a-helix) with the sequence of CB from positions 1 to 10 (part of the amphipathic α-helix). In addition, cecropin B-2 (CB-2) was generated with the same sequence as CB-1 but including

an extra inserted residue pair of Gly–Pro immediately after Pro 24. These two novel synthesized cecropins exhibited a cytotoxicity that was

shown to be 2–3 times higher than the natural molecule on a leukemia cell line. The role of CB-1 as an antitumoral agent was also reported by Wu et al. (2009), who showed that CB-1 displays low in vivo hemolytic GW572016 activity. Results suggest that CB-1 may be administered intravenously for anti-tumor treatment in the future. Besides, that same study showed that CB-1 has low toxicity on non-tumor cells, as opposed to its activity on cells from leukemia, stomach carcinoma and lung cancer, on which the peptide displayed high toxicity. Suttmann et al. (2008) showed that cecropin A and B inhibit the viability and proliferation of bladder cancer cells, but with no effect on fibroblasts. The selective anti-tumor action mechanism of these peptides depends on disruption of target cell membranes resulting in irreversible cytolysis and cell destruction. Both peptides may offer novel therapeutic strategies Cediranib (AZD2171) for the treatment of bladder cancer with limited cytotoxic effects on benign cells. Our research group has been studying the venom of the caterpillar Lonomia obliqua (Lepidoptera, Saturniidae), also known as taturana

or fire caterpillar ( Veiga et al., 2001). L. obliqua is responsible for causing a hemorrhagic syndrome in humans that accidentally get in touch with its urticating spines. Besides local pain and dermatitis, this hemorrhagic syndrome includes a severe bleeding disorder, renal complications, intracerebral hemorrhage and eventually death ( Duarte et al., 1996 and Kelen et al., 1995). Many active principles from the venom of L. obliqua have been isolated and characterized, including fibrinogenases ( Pinto et al., 2006 and Veiga et al., 2003), hyaluronidases ( Gouveia et al., 2005), a phospholipase A2 ( Seibert et al., 2006), a factor X activator ( Alvarez Flores et al., 2006), a prothrombin activator ( Reis et al., 2001) and an antiapoptotic protein ( Souza et al., 2005). Using another approach, Veiga et al. (2005) studied the proteome and the transcriptome of L.

Putative target genes were manually selected from these candidates based on their location in the maize genome. Functions of the predicted target genes were assigned manually according to the functions of the best hits from the BLAST search [41] and [43] against the NCBI database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/blast/Blast.cgi). For the predicted novel miRNA sequences, conservation in other plant species was examined by searching

the nucleotide databases with BLASTn [41] to identify their homologs and surrounding sequences. These germination-related miRNAs were also aligned with the maize genome using PatScan [42]. To analyze whether the matched sequence could form a suitable hairpin, the sequences of candidate precursors were analyzed using Anti-cancer Compound Library RepeatMasker (http://www.repeatmasker.org/) to eliminate repetitive sequences. Sequences surrounding the matched sequence (100–200 nt to either side) were extracted and run through RNAfold (http://rna.tbi.univie.ac.at/cgi-bin/RNAfold.cgi). Most targets of miRNAs in plants have one miRNA-complementary site located in the coding region and occasionally

in the 3′ or 5′ un-translated regions (UTRs) [21], [36], [38], [44] and [45], and plant miRNAs exhibit perfect or near-perfect complementarity with their target mRNAs [46]. We adopted a set of previously reported rules to predict miRNA targets [36] and [47]. These rules allow one mismatch in the region complementary to nucleotide positions 2 to 12 of the miRNA, do not allow a mismatch at position 10/11, which is a predicted cleavage site, and allow three additional mismatches between positions 12 and 22, but with no more than two continuous Z-VAD-FMK mismatches. Therefore, candidate miRNA

target genes were determined using publicly available prediction algorithms, including miRU [48], the target search in WMD web [49], and the prediction tool in the UEA plant sRNA toolkit. These programs were used with their default settings. The microarrays used in this study were obtained from GSE9386, entitled “Genome-wide analysis of gene expression profiles during the kernel development of maize (Z. mays L.)”. The raw data from microarray hybridization was exported from GenePix suites PAK5 6.0 (Axon, USA) and imported into LIMMA with annotation and spot types [50]. Spots with a negative flag value were assigned a weighting of 0.1 in the subsequent analysis. Background-subtracted signal intensities were normalized using two-step normalization, consisting of print-tip group loss (within-array normalization) and between-array scale normalization. The adjusted p value was then assessed using the false discovery rate. To identify a statistically significant differential expression of genes, p = 0.01 was used as a criterion. To obtain probe annotations, the consensus representative sequences of all probes were searched using BLAST against the TIGR rice protein database (http://www.tigr.

5 The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. The authors declare that no experiments were performed on humans or animals for this investigation. The authors declare that they have followed the protocols of their work centre on the publication of patient data and that all the patients included in the study have received sufficient information and have given their informed consent in writing to participate in that study. The authors have obtained the informed consent of the patients and/or subjects mentioned in the article. The author for correspondence is in possession of this document. “
“No artigo publicado recentemente por Matos et al. é feita uma revisão abrangente do tema hepatite

alcoólica aguda (HAA) e congratulamos desde já os autores pelo trabalho1. No que toca a alternativas terapêuticas para a HAA grave é proposta a HCS assay pentoxifilina nos casos de contraindicação ao corticosteroide ou de insuficiência renal

precoce. Esta Selleck Atezolizumab proposta, concordante com recomendações internacionais, deve-se ao benefício deste fármaco na diminuição da mortalidade, assente sobretudo na diminuição da síndrome hepatorenal2. Contudo, numa meta-análise de 2009 que analisou os estudos clínicos envolvendo a pentoxifilina na terapêutica da HAA o benefício clínico foi considerado apenas possível e a qualidade da evidência não permitiu inferir conclusões quanto a um efeito positivo ou negativo3. De facto, sendo a pentoxifilina um antagonista do fator de necrose tumoral alfa poderá resultar em efeitos deletérios, nomeadamente pela inibição da regeneração hepática, tal como foi expresso pelos autores1. Numa revisão sistemática mais recente e posterior à publicação (-)-p-Bromotetramisole Oxalate das recomendações, surgem mais indícios de um

efeito positivo benéfico da pentoxifilina, embora sem melhoria da sobrevida no 1.° mês4. No entanto, na ausência de outras alternativas terapêuticas conhecidas e perante uma entidade com sobrevida variando apenas entre 50-65% no 1.° mês2, compreende-se a opção por recorrer à pentoxifilina na HAA grave. Tal como os autores referem, a percentagem de doentes com HAA grave elegíveis para terapêutica com corticosteroides que não respondem a esta poderá atingir os 40%. Foi demonstrado o benefício da associação corticosteroides e N-acetilcisteína na redução da mortalidade no 1.° mês5. Haverá lugar a propor desde já esta associação terapêutica? Foi argumentada a escassez de estudos2, mas perante um fármaco com perfil de segurança conhecido desde há muito e uma patologia com tão elevada mortalidade, protelar a introdução da associação poderá não ser a melhor estratégia atual. Tendo em conta o exposto face à pentoxifilina, na nossa opinião, com os dados disponíveis esta associação tem pelo menos a mesma base de evidência para ser utilizada. Sem prejuízo obviamente de, tal como os autores apontam, haver necessidade de estudos adicionais, até porque não foi ainda demonstrado benefício na diminuição da mortalidade ao 6.° mês5.

Nevertheless, to our knowledge there are few studies investigating the action of a post-SE onset find more treatment with NMDAR antagonists on SE-induced brain consequences. In this way, the goal of our study was to investigate the protective role of a post-SE onset treatment with ketamine on neuronal death and long-term behavioral alterations caused by LiCl–pilocarpine SE model. Previous studies showed that a pretreatment with ketamine reduced intensity and duration of epileptic seizures in metrazol, bicuculline, picrotoxin, pentylenetetrazol and electrical stimulus animal models (Mikolasova

et al., 1994, Velisek et al., 1989 and Veliskova et al., 1990). In our study, treatment with ketamine after SE onset presents similar effect in both times tested. However, latency to stop motor activity was shorter in animals that received ketamine at 60 min after pilocarpine than those at 15 min. This apparent improved efficacy of SE+KET60 may be related to action mechanisms of pilocarpine, that activates muscarinic cholinergic receptors in the seizure initiation (<30 min) but not in seizure maintenance and progression (>60 min), which is performed primarily selleck by NMDAR (Fujikawa, 1995 and Rice and DeLorenzo, 1998). Although we cannot exclude the possibility that ketamine-induced decrease of motor manifestations

does not reflect a reduction in epileptic activity on the brain, previous studies have showed a robust relationship between electroencephalographic and motor activities in the LiCl–pilocarpine SE model (Hirsch et al., 1992 and Sankar et al., 1998). In addition to reducing the severity and duration of seizures, the ketamine post-SE onset treatment also significantly reduced neurodegeneration observed in all SE-submitted animals. Similar to previous studies (de Oliveira et al., 2008 and Sankar et al., 1998), SE induced a massive neuronal death in several brain regions. Excessive activation of NMDAR during SE induces a marked Ca2+ influx which

can lead to metabolic derangements and Progesterone subsequent neuronal death (Hardingham et al., 2002, Holmes, 1997, Olney, 2003 and Sankar et al., 1998). Blockage of these receptors by ketamine prevented the SE-induced neuronal death in all brain regions from both ketamine groups (Table 1). Moreover, the metabolic events that lead to neuronal death appear to be time-dependent, whereas the ketamine-blockage of NMDAR at 15 min after pilocarpine was more neuroprotective than that observed at 60 min of treatment. These finding suggests that the triggering events of neuronal death in the immature brain occur in a time window between 15 and 60 min after SE onset. Besides reducing seizures and neuronal death, ketamine administration during prolonged epileptic activity also acted against the long-term behavioral changes caused by SE. In accordance with other studies (de Oliveira et al., 2008 and Sayin et al., 2004), SE animals showed greater anxiety levels in the elevated plus maze (EPM) when compared with non-SE animals.

org/10.1016/j.cbpa.2013.02.027 Improving the productivity of strains is a major factor in making algal biofuels economically viable [1••]. Algal productivity is ultimately dependent

on the efficiency of carbon fixation and the downstream cellular processes that convert photosynthate into useful fuel precursors. The diversity of contemporary microalgal metabolism has been shaped by multiple endosymbiotic acquisitions, environmental factors, and evolutionary selection. The result has been distinct intracellular compartmentation BMS-907351 mw and unique organizational schemes among different algal classes [2••], especially in relation to the location of carbon fixation enzymes and carbohydrate storage (Figure 1). Organizational differences likely affect processes such as photosynthesis, carbon flux through metabolic networks, and biosynthesis of fuel-relevant compounds. The goal of this review is to highlight the

relevance of these aspects of algal diversity to biofuel molecule production. The evolution of microalgae has generated a variety of components and organizational schemes of the photosynthetic apparatus (Figure 2). All microalgae have light harvesting antenna complexes, PSII, the cytochrome b6f complex, and PSI. The use of the bulky phycobilisomes (peripherally buy Carfilzomib associated with the thylakoid membrane) for light harvesting in cyanobacteria, glaucophytes, Cobimetinib cost and rhodophytes results in a relatively large spacing between the photosynthetic membranes (Figure 2a and c), which could affect photosynthetic capacity [3]. Downsizing of the light harvesting complexes is apparent in rhodophytes, which have membrane-integral LHCs, and cryptomonads, which utilize unassembled biliproteins in the lumen of the thylakoids, enabling stacked thylakoid grana (Figure 2). Stacked grana arose independently in both chlorophytes and in derivatives of the red algae, and may serve to enhance light

capture and connectivity between PSIIs with large functional antenna size [3 and 4]. The numbers of grana stacks differ; chromalveolates typically have three, while chlorophytes can have 2–3 times more [5•]. In chlorophytes, PSII is highly enriched in the grana and PSI in the stroma thylakoids, while in chromalveolates, they are nearly equally distributed [6]. Chlorophytes use LHCs specific for either PSI or PSII (Figure 2), and stramenopiles such as diatoms use fucoxanthin chlorophyll binding proteins (FCPs) in a similar capacity [7•]. Stramenopile FCPs have a carotenoid:chlorophyll ratio of 4:4 compared with 14:4 in LHCs for chlorophytes, resulting in a shift of absorbance into the 460–570 nm range, which is not accessible to chlorophytes [8]. Efficient photosynthesis requires balance between light absorbed by PSI and PSII and dissipation of energy from excess absorbed light.

Conditioned medium from cultures of unstimulated mature osteoclasts contained a variety of chemokines, including MCP-1/CCL2, GROα/CXCL1 and IL-8/CXCL8 (Fig. 1A), indicating that osteoclasts had the capacity to recruit immune cells, including T cells and NK cells (via MCP-1/CCL2), and granulocytes (via GROα/CXCL1 and IL-8/CXCL8). Other factors produced by unstimulated osteoclasts detected on the array included IL-1RA, soluble ICAM-1 (sICAM-1) and Serpin E1. We also quantified production of a variety of chemokines and detected marked levels of MCP-1/CCL2 (753.02 ± 170.17 pg/ml), IL-8/CXCL8 (606.43 ± 44.95 pg/ml) and RANTES/CCL5

(331.81 ± 18.42 pg/ml) in osteoclast conditioned medium, thereby further Selleckchem Osimertinib supporting the idea that osteoclasts are capable of influencing the recruitment of a variety of immune cells. We then sought to determine if soluble mediators released by osteoclasts could induce the migration of γδ T cells. Due to the potential confounding effects of FBS present in conditioned medium for stimulating T cell migration directly, we generated conditioned medium from osteoclasts cultured for 48 h in SCH772984 molecular weight the absence of serum but supplemented with M-CSF and RANKL; conditions which did not adversely affect osteoclast viability as assessed by cellular morphology (data not shown). γδ T cells were pre-activated with 100 U/ml IL-2 for 12 h prior to addition, since unstimulated γδ T cells had

limited motility in response to FBS-induced migration (data not shown), consistent with a previous study of T cell chemotaxis [22]. While activated γδ T cells did not migrate

towards serum-free medium (Fig. 1B), FBS induced marked γδ T cell migration (~ 15–20% of input cells — data not shown). Interestingly, serum-free osteoclast conditioned medium also induced marked migration of γδ T cells across the Transwell membrane, comparable to that observed with FBS, indicating that osteoclasts release soluble factors capable of inducing the migration of γδ T cells. We next assessed whether osteoclasts could induce activation of T cells, using the early activation marker CD69. When γδ T cells or CD4+ T cells were co-cultured with Alectinib osteoclasts for 3 days a significant increase in CD69 expression was observed in both the γδ T cell (Fig. 2A) and CD4+ T cell populations (Fig. 2B). A non-significant trend for macrophages to induce CD69 expression on both γδ T cells (Fig. 2A) and CD4+ T cells (Fig. 2B) comparable to that observed with osteoclasts was also demonstrated. Following co-culture with treated osteoclasts (i.e. osteoclasts pre-treated with TNFα and IFNγ for 24 h), CD69 expression was further increased on γδ T cells, although this was not statistically different from untreated osteoclasts. A similar further upregulation of CD69 expression on CD4+ T cells was also observed following co-culture with treated osteoclasts.

Moreover, mutation of the TK gene can also be measured in the human lymphoblastoid cell line TK6. However, the MLA test is most commonly used as it detects both aneugens (non-direct effect on DNA) and clastogens (direct effect on DNA). The current methodology includes the use of either a plate assay in soft agar or a liquid exposure in a 96-well microplate increasing the throughput. However, the scoring of the colonies has to be done manually by an operator, adding subjectivity to the process. Initially, the MLA assay was conducted using short treatments of 3–6 h. However, the genotoxicity testing guideline from the International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH) for the registration

of pharmaceuticals recommended a continuous treatment (24 h) Selleckchem Raf inhibitor when there is a negative response in the short treatments in the absence of S9 (ICH, 2008). The longer treatments allow the cells to go through 1.5–2 normal cell cycles, ensuring that weak positive chemicals are readily detectable. Additionally,

some evidence suggests that aneugenic compounds can also be detected with this click here longer treatment time (Moore et al., 2002). However, Fellows et al. have recently advised against the use of MLA as a routine test to detect aneugens, as some of their tested compounds did not generate a positive response, while others only produced positive results at toxic concentrations (Fellows et al., 2011). As with the Ames test, the MLA assay can be conducted in the presence of S9. However, S9 can only be used in the short treatments as it is toxic per se when the cells are exposed for more than 3 h. The in vitro chromosomal aberration test is a cytogenetic assay that has traditionally been used to evaluate chromosome abnormalities and stability after chemical treatment ( OECD, 1997b). The assay evaluates the karyotype in the first metaphase after a short (3–6 h) and long (24 h) treatment with test compounds. This assay is laborious and requires observational skills to score the different chromosome aberrations. These include chromosome and chromatid gaps and breaks

and more complex rearrangements including chromosome fusions to produce dicentric chromosomes and exchange figures. Although many of these lesions are lethal to the cell, they are surrogates for stable chromosomal exchanges and translocations which Lck are compatible with cell survival and are important in activation of oncogenes and, in some cases, deletion of tumour suppressor genes. The development of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) has facilitated the identification of chromosome abnormalities. The in vitro chromosomal aberration test focuses primarily on structural aberrations. For this reason, carcinogens with a non-genotoxic potential will not be identified. Several cell types have been used routinely for these studies including human peripheral lymphocytes as well as various established Chinese hamster cell lines such as V79, CHO and CHL cells.

A three-way interaction between gender, genotype and sciatic neurectomy was only detected for medullary area. The post-hoc analysis showed that female Lrp5HBM+ mice experienced less endocortical expansion than female WTHBM− mice (medullary area:

6.3 ± 3.8% vs. 16.4 ± 2.2% respectively, p < 0.05), no other differences were detected between male Lrp5HBM+ and their WTHBM− littermates or between male and female Lrp5−/− mice and their WT+/+ littermates. In cancellous bone, gender had a significant effect on the magnitude of sciatic neurectomy-induced change in Tb.Th and Tb.N, but not BV/TV or Tb.Sp, with male mice losing slightly more Tb.Th (− 20.2% vs. − 16.7%, respectively, p < 0.05, data not shown) and females losing more Tb.N (− 24.9% vs. − 22.9%, respectively, p < 0.05, data not shown). Genotype also had a significant effect on Selleck PLX-4720 the magnitude of loss on all parameters of cancellous bone. Lrp5HBM+ mice experienced less loss in BV/TV than their WTHBM− littermates (− 17.2% vs. − 43.3%, respectively, p < 0.05, data not shown). This could be attributed to a reduced loss in Tb.Th and Tb.N. In contrast, Lrp5−/− mice showed a greater loss in BV/TV than their WT+/+ littermates (− 52.4% vs. − 41.3% respectively, p < 0.05, data not shown) due to a greater reduction in Tb.N and increase in Tb.Sp. A three-way interaction between gender, genotype and selleck chemicals sciatic neurectomy was not detected for any of the cancellous

bone parameters; therefore bone loss was similar in male and female mice within each genotype. The trabecular architecture in the control and sciatic neurectomised limbs of the eight groups of mice are illustrated in Fig. 2. In summary these findings show that the degree of cortical and cancellous bone loss associated with sciatic neurectomy is affected by Lrp5 status.

The presence of the Lrp5 HBM mutation is associated with less loss in cortical and cancellous bone than in their WTHBM− controls. The lack of difference in cortical bone loss with disuse between Lrp5−/− mice and their WT+/+ controls indicates that normal Lrp5 function has no effect on this process. However, in cancellous bone absence of Lrp5 is associated with a greater decrease in Tb.N and increase in Tb.Sp than in WT+/+ controls. Mechanical loading significantly and dose-responsively Progesterone increased the cortical bone parameters, % cortical bone area and % total area in WT+/+ males, but Lrp5−/− males showed a complete absence of cortical bone responses ( Table 2, Fig. 3). Female WT+/+ mice failed to respond dose-responsively to loading for cortical bone parameters ( Table 3), but some of the individual load groups produced significant side-to-side loading effects for cortical variables ( Table 2). Like their WT counterparts, Lrp5−/− females showed no dose–response to loading in cortical parameters, but significant side-to-side loading effects for some cortical bone parameters were found ( Table 2 Fig. 3).

05 m, and crosshead speed of 10 mm/min (1.67 × 10−4 m/s). Five replicates were used for each treatment. Analyses of variance (ANOVA) were carried out for all responses, in order to verify which of them were significantly

affected by CW type and/or concentration. Depending on the results for each response, appropriate difference tests were applied to study differences among CW concentrations (Tukey tests) and/or CW types (Dunnett tests). The plain AAP film presented the following properties: tensile strength, 3.16 MPa; elongation at break, 28.26%; Young’s modulus, 15.35 MPa; water vapor permeability, 3.19 × 10−13 kg m Pa−1 s−1 m−2. The strength and modulus of the films were

higher when compared to those observed Saracatinib order for mango (Azeredo et al., 2009) but lower than those reported for peach (McHugh & Olsen, 2004), alginate-apple (Rojas-Graü et al., 2007) and mango (Sothornvit & Rodsamran, 2008) fruit puree films. The water vapor permeability of the AAP film was lower than those reported for other fruit-based films in all above-mentioned studies, which apparently suggests a better moisture barrier of the film in the present study selleck kinase inhibitor when compared to those, although the test was conducted under different conditions – for example, an air-circulating system was not included as in the previous studies. Then, some caution is needed when comparing the present results with those mentioned in the beginning of this paragraph, since the lack of air circulation may retard moisture transfer, thus possibly leading to an underestimation

of the WVP. The dimensions and aspect ratios of the CW incorporated to the nanocomposite films are presented in Table 1. The CW from coconut fibers had lower diameter and higher lengths when compared to those obtained from cotton fibers, and their resulting aspect ratio was about four times higher. The tensile properties and WVP were not significantly affected by CW type or CW type × concentration interaction (Table 2). So, the effects of CW from coconut husk fiber (submitted to one- or multi-stage bleaching) on tensile properties and water vapor permeability of the films were similar to those of CW from Epothilone B (EPO906, Patupilone) cotton fiber. The films with cotton CW had probably a better filler-matrix compatibility, because of the absence of lignin in the cotton fiber wall (Kim & Triplett, 2001). Although lignin has been reported to improve matrix-fillers adhesion and mechanical properties of hydrophobic matrices such as rubber (Alexy et al., 2008) and poly(lactic acid) (Graupner, 2008), this seems not to be true for hydrophilic matrices such as alginate-acerola puree, because of the relatively high hydrophobicity of lignin. In fact, Baumberger et al. (1998) reported incompatibility between lignin and a starch matrix.