Development of a simple model device for in vitro gastric digestion investigation

Abstract

There have been some reports in the literature of model gastric digestion systems to mimic the dynamic physiological processes within the gastrointestinal tract. However, such devices often require the specification of many control parameters making routine digestion tests unfeasible. This paper introduces a simple in vitro digestion device, comprising of a water-jacketed glass vessel into which a spherical Teflon probe of variable diameter can be inserted. The probe is controlled by a texture analyser to simulate the kinetics of a food digestion process. Using this device under well controlled hydrodynamic flow and biochemical conditions key digestion parameters such as pH, food particle size, protein release, lipid release, cloudiness, etc, can be determined. Feasibility tests of the model device have been conducted using roasted and non-roasted peanuts particles. The status of peanut digestion was examined by the changes in particle size distribution and the mean particle size. Significant differences of surface microstructure have also been observed for peanut particles after the digestion. The influence of parameters such as food to gastric juice ratio, the probe speed and pepsin concentration have been examined in this work. Initial results confirm that all these factors influence the kinetic process of gastric digestion considerably and should be well regulated in any in vitro digestion investigations. We propose that the model device has the advantages of easy control and operation and furthermore could be an ideal tool for routine in vitro gastric digestion studies.

Direct observation and evaluation of cooked white and brown rice digestion by gastric digestion simulator provided with peristaltic function

“…Chen, Gaikwad, Holmes, Murray, Povey, Wang, & Zhang, (2011) proposed an in vitro gastric device comprised of a glass vessel and a spherical Teflon probe. This simplified device can provide mechanical force to gastric content by the upward and downward movements of the probe, while gastric content is compressed between the inflexible walls of the vessel and probe.…”

Dissolution testing of oral modified-release dosage forms

“…Most of the newer test devices mimicking the dynamic physiological processes within the GI tract were initially developed for applications in the food industry, i.e. they were mainly established for monitoring the digestion and disintegration behaviour of new food products in vitro [126–128] . The models are capable of simulating GI‐specific flow and mixing conditions in a simple manner and their feasibility was evaluated by studying the disintegration of model food components such as carrots or peanut particles.…”

Understanding Food Structures

“…Temperature, pH, and ionic strength are regulated, and an appropriate cocktail of enzymes and biosurfactants is included in order to imitate the typical aqueous solution conditions of the stomach or small intestine. In a further refinement of this static approach, the investigated sample is subjected to some kind of regulated in vitro mechanical agitation in an attempt to replicate the hydrodynamic conditions of the physiological environment (Kong and Singh, 2010;Chen et al, 2011). And in order to mimic the temporal evolution of the entire digestion process, an integrated multi-chamber device is seemingly required .…”