Effects of convective drying assisted

by ultrasound and osmotic solution

on polyphenol, antioxidant and
microstructure of murtilla (Ugni molinae
Turcz) fruit
F. Pirce, T. M. F. S. Vieira,
T. R. Augusto-Obara, S. M. Alencar,
F. Romero & E. Scheuermann

Journal of Food Science and

Technology

ISSN 0022-1155

J Food Sci Technol

DOI 10.1007/s13197-020-04523-1

1 23
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 Author's personal copy
J Food Sci Technol
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-020-04523-1

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Effects of convective drying assisted by ultrasound and osmotic

solution on polyphenol, antioxidant and microstructure
of murtilla (Ugni molinae Turcz) fruit
F. Pirce1,5 • T. M. F. S. Vieira2 • T. R. Augusto-Obara2 • S. M. Alencar2 •

F. Romero3 • E. Scheuermann4,5

Revised: 16 April 2020 / Accepted: 8 May 2020

Ó Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India) 2020

Abstract The effects of pretreatment with ultrasound and when an osmotic solution was applied for 120 min without
an osmotic solution combined with hot air convection ultrasound. When ultrasound and the osmotic solution were
drying on the total polyphenol content (TPC), antioxidant applied, the skin cells of the dried murtilla fruit became
activity and microstructural of murtilla skin fruit were more distorted, resulting in larger spaces between them and
evaluated. The effects of ultrasound frequency (0 and causing loss of shape. Although the application of pre-
130 kHz), osmotic solution concentration (0 and 70 °Brix) treatment procedures before murtilla fruit drying did not
and time (60 or 120 min) on the TPC and the antioxidant positively affect the TPC, DPPH or ORAC individually,
activities as measured by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl the application of a Global Standardized Response based
(DPPH), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and on the followed by a mathematical model adjustment
oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assays were indicated that a 70 °Brix osmotic solution applied for
evaluated. The TPC and DPPH antioxidant activity 60 min was the best treatment for preparing murtilla fruit
decreased significantly (p \ 0.05) when ultrasound was aiming a high antioxidant activity in dried product.
applied at 0 °Brix for 60 min. Higher FRAP activity was
obtained upon treatment with ultrasound and an osmotic Keywords Dehydration  Sonicate  Osmosis  Murta 
solution for 60 min. The ORAC values did not significantly Phenolics  Microscopic
differ based on the pretreatment methods but decreased

Electronic supplementary material The online version of this Introduction

article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-020-04523-1) contains sup-
plementary material, which is available to authorized users. In the food industry, hot air drying under forced convection
& E. Scheuermann
is the most common method for dehydration because it is
[email protected] reasonably economical. However, the removal of internal
moisture takes a relatively long time. The color, taste and
1
Doctoral Program in Science of Natural Resources, nutritional characteristics of the rehydrated product could
Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile
be damaged by high temperatures (Ramos et al. 2003).
2
Department of Agri-food Industry, Food and Nutrition, Thus, alternative methods, such as microwave drying,
College of Agriculture ‘‘Luiz de Queiroz’’, University of São
Paulo, Av. Pádua Dias 11, Piracicaba 13418-900, Brazil
freeze drying, osmotic drying, vacuum drying, spray drying
3
and infrared drying, have been investigated (Reyes et al.
Center of Neurosciences and Peptides Biology, Vice-Rectory
for Research and Graduate Studies, Medical Science PhD
2011; Yi et al. 2017; Coklar et al. 2018). These methods
Program, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile can avoid the disadvantages of hot air drying but there are
4 drawbacks: freeze drying is an expensive method, and
Chemical Engineering Department, Universidad de La
Frontera, P.O. Box 54-D, Temuco, Chile spray drying is only applicable to fluids (Reyes et al. 2010).
5 Complementary technologies, such as ultrasound-assisted
Center of Food Biotechnology and Bioseparations, BIOREN-
UFRO, Universidad de La Frontera, P.O. Box 54-D, Temuco, dehydration in a liquid medium, have been implemented as
Chile pretreatment-associated drying procedures (Rodrigues and

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J Food Sci Technol

Fernandes 2007; Garcia-Noguera et al. 2010). The use of Laboratory at the Universidad de La Frontera. A sieve
ultrasonic waves may enhance the effectiveness of con- system was used to select the fruit with a diameter between
vective hot air drying, improving the quality of the dried 1.5 and 1.0 cm, in order to form a homogeneous sample in
product (Kek et al. 2013). Drying methods must ensure relation to the diameter of the individual fruits.
product stability and should not affect bioactive compo-
nents, such as polyphenolic compounds. The application of Experimental design
ultrasound decreases the drying time and hence the pro-
cessing costs, but it increases the rate of mass transfer A factorial experimental design was applied to analyze the
during the drying of various fruits and vegetables (Mothibe effects of pretreatment methods and time on the total
et al. 2011). In addition to changes in the nutritional quality polyphenol content and antioxidant activities of dried
observed after drying, microstructural changes due to water murtilla fruits. The independent variables were the ultra-
removal have been reported in strawberries (Garcia- sound frequency (0 and 130 kHz), the osmotic solution
Noguera et al. 2010) and apples (Ramı́rez et al. 2011). An concentration (0 and 70 °Brix), and the holding time (60
alternative to removing water before drying is the use and 120 min). The selection of variable levels was based
osmotic solutions. The equilibrium with the solid will be on conditions reported by Fernandes et al. 2009; Garcia-
influenced by the type of solution, concentration, temper- Noguera et al. 2010; Almeida et al. 2015; and Romero and
ature, and time (Sablani et al. 2002). An improvement in Yépez 2015. A two-level factorial design was applied
the effective water diffusivity and a decrease in the pro- (Table 1). The dependent variables were the total
cessing time were obtained by simultaneous pretreatment polyphenol content (TPC), the antioxidant activities as
with ultrasound and an osmotic solution prior to the drying measured by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH)
of pineapple and strawberry (Fernandes et al. 2009; Garcia- and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays and
Noguera et al. 2010). the reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging activity
Murtilla (Ugni molinae Turcz.) is a Chilean native plant measured by the oxygen radical absorbance capacity
from the Myrtaceae family that grows in the forest edges of (ORAC) assay using peroxyl radical (ROO). The experi-
the Andes coastal mountains and produces an edible berry ments were carried out in triplicate, which means that for
(Pastenes et al. 2003; Scheuermann et al. 2008). The fruit is each point of the factorial design (Table 1), three different
usually eaten fresh but is also commercially available in samples of dried murtilla fruit were produced. The TPC
canned forms and in jam, juice and liquor. Due to its and antioxidant activity were determined for each of the
pleasant fruity aroma and high content of polyphenolic three samples. Statistica software, 12.0 (StatSoft Inc. 2014,
compounds, murtilla fruit is recognized for its antioxidant Tulsa, OK, USA) was used for data analysis.
properties, and it presents potential for commercialization
as a dry product (Scheuermann et al. 2008; Alfaro et al. Ultrasound and osmotic solution pretreatment
2013; Augusto et al. 2014; Jofré et al. 2016). Murtilla fruit procedures
has a thick peel, which constitutes a barrier to mass transfer
during convective drying with hot air. Pretreatment with Fresh murtilla fruit were pretreated with ultrasound in an
ultrasound and an osmotic solution may improve the drying ultrasonic bath (JAC-2010, Kodo Technical Research Co.
speed, as reported for other fruits (Rodrigues and Fernan- Ltd., Korea) using an ultrasound frequency of 130 kHz.
des 2007; Garcia-Noguera et al. 2010; Mothibe et al. 2011). Other murtilla fruit samples were not pretreated with
This study evaluated the effects of ultrasound and osmotic ultrasound (0 kHz). Distilled water (0 °Brix) and an
solution as pretreatment methods before drying by con- osmotic solution (70 °Brix) prepared from concentrated
vective air on the polyphenols content, antioxidant activity apple juice (Diana Naturals, Chile) were used as the liquid
and microstructure of dried murtilla fruits. media. The ratio of fruit to liquid medium was 1:4 (w/v)
based on previous work (Fernandes et al. 2006; Oliveira
et al. 2006). The murtilla fruits were immersed in the liquid
Materials and methods medium in a glass jar and then placed into an ultrasonic
bath for 60 or 120 min. After completing each pretreatment
Fruit material procedure, the murtilla fruits were removed from the glass
jars and absorbent paper was used to remove excess liquid.
Fresh murtilla (Ugni molinae Turcz) fruit, genotype INIA
23-02, was harvested in the experimental field of the Convective drying
Institute of Agricultural Research (INIA-Carillanca) loca-
ted in Tranapuente (38° 700 S; 73° 350 W), Chile. The fruits A forced circulating air oven (Memmert model UFE 400,
were immediately transported to the Food Science Germany) was used to dry the murtilla fruit after

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Table 1 Factorial design of the pretreatments applied before murtilla fruit dehydration
Run Independent variables
Real value Coded value
Ultrasonic frequency Osmotic solution Time Ultrasonic frequency Osmotic solution Time
(kHz) concentration (°Brix) (mins) (kHz) concentration (°Brix) (mins)

1 0 0 60 -1 -1 -1
2 130 0 60 1 -1 -1
3 0 70 60 -1 1 -1
4 130 70 60 1 1 -1
5 0 0 120 -1 -1 1
6 130 0 120 1 -1 1
7 0 70 120 -1 1 1
8 130 70 120 1 1 1

pretreatment with ultrasound and osmotic solution. The added of 600 lL of 20% Na2CO3 solution. Samples were
drying conditions were fixed according to Nowacka et al. kept at 20 °C for 120 min in the dark. The absorbance was
(2012), Alfaro et al. (2014) and Augusto et al. (2014). The measured at 765 nm using a spectrophotometer (Spectronic
oven was set at 70 °C, and the air flow was 2 m/s. A fruit Genesys 5, Sweden), and the results were expressed as mg
charge density of 3 kg/m2 was used. Each sample was of gallic acid equivalents (GAE) per 100 g dry weight
arranged on the trays in a single layer. The drying process (Reyes et al. 2011; Alfaro et al. 2013).
lasted 5–6 h, being interrupted when the samples reach a
final moisture content of 7% of wet base (b.p.). The dry Determination of the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryhydrazyl
matter of the dried murtilla fruit was determined to (DPPH) radical scavenging capacity
establish the moisture content, and this value was used to
calculate the TPC and antioxidant activity in 100 g of dry The DPPH antioxidant activity was determined based on
weight. the radical scavenging by the compounds in the fruit
After pretreatment procedures and convective drying, extracts (Brand-Williams et al. 1995). A 50-lL aliquot of
the samples were extracted for determination of the total the methanolic murtilla extract was added to 1950 lL of a
polyphenol content and antioxidant activities. Also, DPPH methanolic solution. Absorbance at 515 nm was
microstructure was analyzing for the murtilla dried fruits. measured after 30 min. The results were expressed as lmol
Trolox equivalents (TE) per 100 g dry weight (Reyes et al.
Total polyphenol content (TPC) and antioxidant 2011; Alfaro et al. 2013).
activities
Determination of the ferric reducing antioxidant
Dried murtilla extracts were prepared from 1 g of dried power (FRAP)
sample minced in a mortar and mixed with 20 mL of
methanol (99.9%, Merck, Germany). The mixture was held The FRAP assay was conducted according to Al-Duais
at 30 °C whlile stirring at 170 rpm for 20 min in an et al. (2009). A 20-lL aliquot of the extract was mixed with
incubator (GFL-3032, Germany) and then filtered (What- 30 lL of distilled water in a 96-well microplate. After the
man N°1) under vacuum (Reyes et al. 2011; Alfaro et al. addition of 200 lL of FRAP reagent (prepared fresh daily:
2013). The extracts were subjected to the following 10 volumes of 300 mmol/L acetate buffer (pH 3.6), 10
determinations. volumes of 20 mmol/L FeCl3 and one volume of 10 mmol/
L TPTZ (2,4,6-tripyridyl-striazine) in 40 mmol/L HCl) the
Determination of the total polyphenol content (TPC) absorbance at 595 nm was registered by a microplate
reader (Spectra Max M3, Molecular Devices). Water was
The Folin–Ciocalteau method was used for TPC determi- used as blank. Ferrous sulfate solutions (0.25–2.5 mmol/L)
nation (Wong et al. 2006). A 40-lL aliquot of murtilla were used for calibration curve and results were expressed
extract was mixed with distilled water (3.16 mL), added of in mmol of Fe2? per 100 g dry weight.
200 lL of Folin–Ciocalteau reagent, and, after 5 min,

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Determination of the ROS scavenging activity Microstructure analysis

by an oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC)
assay One random sample was collected after each pretreatment
experimental essay and fixed with a solution of 4%
The ROO scavenging activity was determined by the paraformaldehyde in 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.2) and
ORAC method, as described by Melo et al. (2015). ROO 1% glutaraldehyde for 24 h at ambient temperature. After
was generated by the thermal decomposition of AAPH fixation, samples were dehydrated, immersed in a series of
(2,20 -azobis(2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride). The graded ethanol solutions and embedded using a historesin
reaction mixtures in the sample wells contained the fol- embedding kit. Then, the dehydrated and embedded mur-
lowing reagents at the indicated final concentrations (in a tilla fruits were sectioned into 5 lm-thick layers with a
final volume of 200 lL): 60 lL of fluorescein Leica RM 2065 microtome (Leica, Germany). Photomi-
(508.25 mM); 30 lL of the standard, control or murtilla crographs of the layers showing the cellular structure were
extract; and 110 lL of the AAPH solution (76 mM). taken using a ZEISS Primo Star light microscope (ZEISS,
Solutions of fluorescein were diluted in 75 mM phosphate Germany) with a digital image capture system (Garcia-
buffer (pH 7.4) that had been previously prepared and Noguera et al. 2010).
stored at 4 °C. The AAPH was dissolved in phosphate
buffer. The mixture was kept in a microplate reader Statistical analysis
(Molecular Devices, LLC, USA) at 37 °C for 120 min. The
fluorescence signal was monitored at an emission wave- All determinations were carried out in triplicate, and the
length of 528 nm and an excitation wavelength of 485 nm results are expressed as the means ± standard deviations
every minute until the fluorescence fully decayed. Trolox (SDs). Statistical analyses were conducted using Statistica
was used as the standard control, and the results were software, 12.0 (StatSoft Inc. 2014, Tulsa, OK, USA). Data
expressed in lmol of Trolox equivalents (TE) per 100 g were analyzed via ANOVA (p \ 0.05), and Duncan’s test
dry weight. was used to determine significant differences (p \ 0.05) in
the TPC, DPPH, FRAP and ORAC assays. The quality of
Determination of the global standardized response the fit of the adjusted model for GSR was evaluated in
(GSR) terms of the coefficient of determination (R2) and the
F-test. The lack of fit F-value (p \ 0.05) was obtained from
To comprehensively evaluate the antioxidant activity of the an analysis of variance (ANOVA) (Rodrigues and Iemma
extracts produced under different conditions, a Global 2015).
Standardized Response was calculated following De
Camargo et al. (2014). Standardized responses (in relation
to the maximum observed value of each assay) of antiox- Results and discussion
idant activity by DPPH, FRAP, and reactive oxygen spe-
cies determined using the ORAC method were used to Total polyphenol content and antioxidant activity
indicate a global value including three different patterns of
antioxidant activity. The GSR was determined by the fol- The antioxidant activities of fruits have mainly been related
lowing equation: to their phenolic compounds (Alfaro et al. 2013; Jofré et al.
X mn    2016). Some studies have shown that the polyphenolic
Vi 100
GSR ¼ m  compounds in murtilla fruits and their antioxidant activities
i¼1
HVi n
are affected by the drying process (Reyes et al. 2010;
where Vi = experimental response from each run, Augusto et al. 2014). Convective air drying can reduce
HVi = highest observed value in the response group, nutrients in fruits due to the long drying times and high
m = method number, n = number of methods to adjust the temperatures (Sablani 2006). Thus, ultrasound pretreatment
global response. is expected to be the best way to preserve nutrients during
The GSR was used as a depend variable to adjust the drying due to its ability to reduce drying period at ambient
first-order mathematical model, including linear parameters temperatures (Mothibe et al. 2011). Osmotic dehydration
and interactions between independent variables. reduces the moisture in fruits while maintaining their
bioactive compounds, and also intensifying the fruit color
(Almeida et al. 2015). TCP of fresh murtilla used in this
study was 715.3 ± 119.7 mg/100 g dry weight. The effects
of pretreatment with ultrasound and osmotic solutions on
the TPC and antioxidant activities of dried murtilla fruit by

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convective drying according to the factorial design To evaluate the antioxidant activity of the dried murtilla
(Table 1) are shown in Fig. 1. fruit subjected to different pretreatment procedures
The TPC decreased significantly (p \ 0.05) when sam- (Table 1), DPPH and FRAP assays were conducted. Based
ples immersed in distilled water as the liquid medium was on the DPPH free radical assay (Fig. 1), the antioxidant
subjected to ultrasound for 60 min. When the same con- activities of the fruit samples subjected to ultrasound in the
ditions were applied for 120 min, the observed TPC was two different liquid media (distilled water and osmotic
not significantly different. In some cases, the decrease in solution) and for the two treatment durations (60 and
TPC is attributed to oxidative degradation caused by the 120 min) were not significantly different (p \ 0.05).
oxygen in the pores of the tissue and the intensification of However, when distilled water was applied (0 °Brix) for
enzymatic activity, especially after long treatment periods 60 min without ultrasound treatment (0 kHz), the DPPH
(Wiktor et al. 2016). Meanwhile, with 60 min using the antioxidant activity was higher than that observed follow-
osmotic solution (70 °Brix), ultrasound-assisted pretreat- ing the other conditions studied. The decrease in DPPH
ment resulted in a significantly higher TPC compared to no antioxidant activity due to pretreatment with an osmotic
sonication treatments. Studies conducted with kasturi lime solution and ultrasound is consistent with the results
juice (25 kHz for 30 and 60 min) and grapefruit juice reported by Romero and Yépez (2015). These authors
(28 kHz for 30, 60 and 90 min) as raw material also observed a decrease in the antioxidant activity of Andean
showed that ultrasound treatments resulted in increase in blackberry when the fruit was sonicated at 24 kHz for
the total phenolic content (Bhat et al. 2011; Aadil et al. 30 min utilizing distilled water as the liquid medium before
2013). This observation could be attributed to the release of drying. This decrease was attributed to the migration of the
polyphenolic compounds following the rupture of the cell antioxidant compounds from the fruit to the liquid medium
wall caused by the cavitation pressure exerted during and the modifications that occur in the fruit skin, which
ultrasound treatment. Likewise, the incorporation of favor the transfer of the components in the fruit to the
hydroxyl groups into the aromatic rings of the polyphenolic liquid by decreasing resistance.
compounds due to ultrasonication could contribute to this Concerning the FRAP assay, when distilled water was
increase (Aadil et al. 2013). Conversely, when the osmotic used, no significant differences (p \ 0.05) were observed
solution was applied for 120 min, no significant differences between the fruit subjected to ultrasound for the two pre-
in the TPC values were observed among the samples treatment periods (Fig. 1). However, the application of the
subjected to ultrasound and those that were not. osmotic solution (70 °Brix) resulted in a significant dif-
ference that was influenced by the treatment time. Almeida

Fig. 1 Total polyphenol content (TPC) 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryhydrazyl 120 min in an osmotic solution (0 and 70 °Brix). Data represent the
antioxidant activity (DPPH), ferric reducing antioxidant power means of triplicate analyses for each assay, and bars with different
(FRAP) and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) of dried letters are significantly different (p \ 0.05)
murtilla fruit submitted to ultrasound (0 and 130 kHz) for 60 and

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et al. (2015) suggested that this behavior is probably due to activity. Due to the significant interactions effects included
the incorporation of sugar into the product, which prevents in the mathematical model, expressed graphically in Fig. 2,
the loss of antioxidant compounds. This hypothesis could the application of ultrasound at 20 kHz for 60 min, com-
explain the higher antioxidant activities in the samples for bined to the osmotic solution, indicates that it is possible to
which the osmotic solution was applied for 60 min com- improve the GSR by matching independent variables val-
pared to the activities of the samples that were sonicated ues. Although it is not the aim of this work, results pointed
for 60 min in distilled water. the possibility of reducing the time and energy used in the
No significant differences (p \ 0.05) in the ORAC drying process of murtilla fruits, reflecting in cost
values were observed when distilled water was applied reduction.
(Fig. 1). When the osmotic solution was tested during
60 min, treatment with ultrasound showed no significant Microstructural changes
impact on the results. However, when the osmotic solution
was applied for 120 min, a lower ORAC activity was The morphology of murtilla fruit skin tissue before and
observed in the fruit samples that were not subjected to after the application of ultrasound is presented in Fig. 3.
ultrasound compared with those that were subjected to These results were obtained using the two liquid media
ultrasound. The variables of ultrasonic frequency, osmotic with ultrasound application for 60 min in all cases. This
solution concentration and pretreatment time did not affect samples were selected because in a previous work, differ-
the ORAC values of dried murtilla fruit probably because ences in the drying curves were only observed with a
of the low concentration of phenolic compounds following treatment time of 60 min. The microstructure analysis
all treatments, which prevented a significant effect on shows that cells of murtilla fruit skin presented normal
ROO (Cao et al. 1995). morphology, with thin walls and without visible intercel-
Therefore, to fit a preliminary model that includes the lular spaces before ultrasound pretreatment using distilled
different applied methods the GSR was calculated, and the water (Fig. 3a). After being subjected to ultrasound treat-
first-order coded model was adjusted: ment (60 min), the skin cells showed alteration in their
Y2 ¼ 71:08 þ 1:25 X1 þ 2:67 X2 2:50 X3 þ 3:33 X1 X2 structure when immersed in distilled water (Fig. 3b). They
þ 2:17 X1 X3 2:92 X2 X3 became more distorted and showed decreased adhesion,
which resulted in large spaces among the cells. The same
where Y2 is the GSR, X1 is the ultrasonic frequency, X2 is effect was observed in pineapples, and these changes
the osmotic solution concentration, and X3 is time. encouraged the internal water of the fruit to flow outward
The model was evaluated based on the R2 value and (Fernandes et al. 2009). These changes have been uniquely
F-test (Table 2). Significant F value indicate that the model attributed to cell separation and breakdown as a result of
can be used to predict the GSR matching of the DPPH, ultrasound application in distilled water (Fernandes et al.
FRAP, and ORAC values. Additionally, the lack of fit was 2009). When murtilla fruit was subjected to the osmotic
not significant (p \ 0.05), and 79% (R2) of the variation solution (70 °Brix) before the ultrasound pretreatment, the
can be explained by the regression. The surface responses skin cells showed normal morphology, with thin walls.
are presented in Fig. 2 and corroborate previous observa- However, differences were not clearly observed in the size
tions based on the effects of the studied variables on of the intercellular spaces (Fig. 3c). Similar behavior was
individual antioxidant activities. A higher ultrasonic fre- reported for strawberry osmotic drying; the texture was
quency applied with the osmotic solution for a shorter changed by the pectin solution, and the cells were ruptured
period of time results in dehydrated murtilla fruit with a after being treated for 30 min (Prinzivalli et al. 2006).
desirable global antioxidant activity. Prosapio and Norton (2017) observed that when strawber-
According to Fig. 2 the use of a 70 °Brix osmotic ries were subjected to osmotic dehydration prior to oven
solution during 60 min allows to achieve a high antioxidant drying, some cells were still present, even if they were

Table 2 Analysis of variance

Variation source Sum of squares Degrees of freedom Mean square Fcalc p value
(ANOVA) of the GSR for the
antioxidant activities of dried Regression 941.66 6 156.94 10.9 0.00005
murtilla fruit
Residuals 244.16 17 14.36
Lack of fit 13.50 1 13.50 0.9 0.34760
Pure error 230.66 16 14.42
Total 1185.83 23
R2 = 0.79

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Fig. 2 Contour plot of the GSR

of dried murtilla fruit with
respect to the variation in the
a treatment time and osmotic
solution concentration and
b ultrasonic frequency and
treatment time

broken in some locations. When the murtilla fruits were a beneficial effect on the FRAP antioxidant activity and
sonicated for 60 min with an osmotic solution as the liquid GSR (Figs. 1, 2a).
medium (Fig. 3d), the cells lost their shape, and in some
cases, they were ruptured, resulting in the formation of
spaces between cells. The alterations in the cellular struc- Conclusion
ture of pineapple, melon and apple caused by osmotic
dehydration increase with increasing treatment time (Fer- Pretreatment with ultrasound and an osmotic solution
nandes et al. 2009; Nowacka et al. 2012). However, before murtilla fruit drying did not affect directly the TPC,
although cell modification was observed for dried murtilla DPPH antioxidant activity or ROS scavenging activity
fruit pretreated with ultrasound and an osmotic solution measured by the ORAC method. However, by using the
(Fig. 3c, d), no effect on the release of TPC was observed osmotic solution (70 °Brix) as the liquid medium for
(Fig. 1) even though an application duration of 60 min had 60 min positive effect on the FRAP antioxidant activity
and the Global Standardized Response, which matched the

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Fig. 3 Photomicrographs of
dried murtilla fruit skin a before
ultrasound pretreatment in
distilled water, b after
ultrasound pretreatment in
distilled water, c before
ultrasound pretreatment in an
osmotic solution, and d after
ultrasound pretreatment in an
osmotic solution

DPPH, FRAP, and ORAC results. Pretreatment of murtilla Alfaro S, Mutis A, Palma R, Quiroz A, Seguel I, Scheuermann E
with ultrasound immersed in either distilled water or the (2013) Influence of genotype and harvest year on polyphenol
content and antioxidant activity in murtilla (Ugni molinae Turcz)
osmotic solution affected the fruit skin microstructure. The fruit. J Soil Sci Plant Nutr 13(1):67–78. https://doi.org/10.4067/
cells became more distorted, and the loss of cell adhesion S0718-95162013005000007
resulted in large spaces among the cells. Pretreatment Alfaro S, Mutis A, Quiroz A, Seguel I, Scheuermann E (2014) Effects
procedures based on different ultrasound conditions and of drying techniques on murtilla fruit polyphenols and antiox-
idant activity. J Food Res 3(5):73–82. https://doi.org/10.13140/
osmotic solution concentrations combined with convective RG.2.1.4285.9045
drying should be evaluated to confirm the skin cell damage Almeida JAR, Mussi LP, Oliveira DB, Pereira NR (2015) Effect of
and to improve the release of polyphenolic components temperature and sucrose concentration on the retention of
from murtilla fruit and increase its antioxidant activity after polyphenol compounds and antioxidant activity of osmotically
dehydrated bananas. J Food Process Preserv 39(6):1061–1069.
drying. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfpp.12321
Augusto T, Scheuermann E, Alencar S, D’Arce M, De Camargo AC,
Acknowledgements The authors are grateful for the support pro- Vieira T (2014) Phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity of
vided by the Project FONDEF AF10I1007 from CONICYT (Chile), hydroalcoholic extracts of wild and cultivated murtilla (Ugni
UFRO/FAPESP (Grant No. 2014/50235-7) and the scholarship molinae Turcz.). Food Sci Technol 34(4):667–673. https://doi.
granted by CONICYT and Universidad de La Frontera. org/10.1590/1678-457X.6393
Bhat R, Kamaruddin NSBC, Min-Tze L, Karim AA (2011) Sonication
improves kasturi lime (Citrus microcarpa) juice quality. Ultra-
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