Ascorbic acid treatment inhibits wound healing of fresh-cut potato strips by controlling phenylpropanoid metabolism
Introduction
With the rapid improvement in people's living standard, needs for convenience foods are on the rise. Fresh-cut products are well-liked by consumers due to their high freshness, convenience and safety (Artés et al., 2009). Fresh-cut potatoes are one of the convenience foods that are with higher requests (Shen et al., 2020). However, the integrity of the potato tuber is destroyed due to mechanical processing, resulting in accelerating series of permanent physiological and biochemical reactions (Xiao et al., 2020). These cause some damages to fresh-cut potatoes, including dehydration, browning, softening or hardening, unpleasant aroma and taste deterioration (Gong et al., 2019). Besides, damages to potato tuber tissues also result in certain complex reactions especially wound healing. Wound healing is the process responsible for the repair of injured tissues, which in fresh-cut potatoes, induces them to rapidly form a compact, superficial surface layer to avoid water loss and infection (Lulai, 2007). The wound healing process involves the formation of a suberized closing layer and wound periderm (Dastmalchi et al., 2014). Fresh-cut potatoes accumulate a variety of antioxidant compounds in the wound healing process, such as phenolics and flavonoids (Huang et al., 2017). Thus, a cultivar with good wound healing ability is considered to be an excellent cultivar because of its storability. While, this process may accelerate surface browning and hardening of fresh-cut potatoes during storage, which leads to significant quality loss (Mondy and Leja, 1986; Zhou et al., 2019). Thus, it is urgent to research proper techniques to control wound healing for a longer shelf-life of fresh-cut potatoes. In recent decades, various strategies have been explored to regulate wound healing (Bajji et al., 2007; Woolfson et al., 2018; Jiang et al., 2019; Zhou et al., 2019), however, studies on ascorbic acid in wound healing of potatoes are still very limited.
Ascorbic acid (AA; vitamin C) is only mildly electronegative, thus can donate electrons to a wide range of substrates (Franceschi and Tarlyn, 2002). Following mechanical wounds in potatoes, reactive oxygen species (ROS) are overproduction, which contributes to the process of lignification (Orozco-Cardenas and Ryan, 1999). AA as a free radical scavenger interacting enzymatically and non-enzymatically with ROS, thus, protecting plants from oxidative stress. The interaction between AA and ROS is indicative of the role of AA in the modulation of the wound healing process (Davey et al., 2000). AA has been reported to increase in response to the wounding of plant tissues (Mondy and Leja, 1986; Tudela et al., 2002b). How AA regulates wound healing, however, is not completely understood. Exogenous ascorbic acid is widely used for anti-browning due to its powerful trait in reducing (Gao et al., 2017; Sikora and Swieca, 2018; Lo’ay and EL-Khateeb, 2018). In Chinese standard GB-2760 (Hygienic Standards for Food Additives in Use), AA is permitted to use in fresh-cut fruit and vegetables with the maximum dosage of 5 g kg−1 of fresh-cut products. In the present study, the effect of AA on the wound healing process of potato strips was analyzed by measuring the changes in the browning index, firmness, weight loss, respiration rate and taste. In addition, observations of microstructure, combined with an assessment of the activity of key enzymes and the level of metabolites related to suberization and lignification were conducted.
Section snippets
Sample preparation and AA treatment
Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Youjin ‘885′) grown in 2020 were harvested in Suihua Farm (Heilongjiang province, China). Dormant potatoes, being healthy in similar sizes were washed with clean water, then sanitized in chlorinated water (1 %). Potatoes, with a sharp knife, were peeled and cut in 7 × 1 × 1 cm strips. Potato strips, being washed in distilled water, were divided randomly into three groups afterwards. The three groups of potato strips were respectively immersed in deionized
Browning index, firmness, weight loss and respiration rate
The browning occurring in 5 g L−1 AA-treated samples was inhibited during the whole storage, however, that in 10 g L−1 AA-treated samples was induced after 2 d of storage, compared with the control samples (Fig. 1A). 10 g L−1 AA-treated samples had the lowest browning index at 1 d of storage (p > 0.05) and had the highest browning index at 2, 3, 4 d of storage (p < 0.05), respectively. The browning index was lower in 5 g L−1 AA-treated samples (226) than that in control samples (231) at 2 d of
Discussion
Mechanical injury induces a variety of physiological responses and renders fresh-cut potatoes susceptible to desiccation and becoming flaccid. Potatoes have the ability, however, to form a periderm on the wounded surface of the potato tuber (Garcia and Barrett, 2002). Ascorbic acid (AA) inhibits the browning of fresh-cut potatoes, however, its impact on the process of wound-induced suberization has not been elucidated. In this study, we observed that AA treatment (5 g L−1) reduced physiological
Conclusion
This research showed the application of ascorbic acid (5 g L−1) contributed to reducing physiological changes and suppressing wound healing of fresh-cut potato strips. Results indicated that treatment of potato strips with AA could inhibit browning and hardening, maintain taste, as well as delay the increases in weight loss and the rate of respiration. Furthermore, lower wound healing capacity in AA-treated samples was achieved thanks to lower enzyme activity (PAL, C4H, 4CL, CHS and C3H) and
Author statement
Chen Chen, Mixia Tiana and Aili Jiang designed the experimental trials. Fuhui Zhou and Dongying Xu performed the experiments, collected the samples. Chenghui Liu and Fuhui Zhou wrote the article. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Declaration of Competing Interest
We declare that we do not have any commercial or associative interest that represents a conflict of interest in connection with the work submitted.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31872908), the National Key R & D Program of China (No. 2016YFD0400903).
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These authors contributed equally to this work.