The powders of EWG and ERG dissolved in distilled water uniformly in less than 10 seconds, whereas the EG and RG solutions needed strong shaking for about 1 minute until the powder dissolved well. Apparently, the ERG powder had the best dispersibility. Table 2 also exhibits that the extrudate powder was darker and had higher a and b values than their corresponding control (unextruded) samples. The ERG had the lowest L (75.39) and

highest a (3.22) and b (23.81) values. During the extrusion process, these color changes were caused by nonenzymatic browning and sensitive pigments destruction [29]. Low hardness, which is also a favored property of extrudates, was observed in ERG (Table 2), that is, the breaking strength of ERG was lower than EWG. Previous studies learn more also reported that the breaking strength was strongly influenced by cell structure and protein content. Increased protein content in raw material produced a more rigid network, resulting http://www.selleckchem.com/products/Dasatinib.html in higher resistance to shear [30]. There was no significant difference in elastic modulus between EWG and ERG. Fig. 3 illustrates the cross-sectional microstructure of EWG and ERG. The magnification used was 35× and 150×. EWG showed a homogeneous surface and less porosity, indicating that the starch granules were disrupted, whereas ERG had a rough and irregular surface, which could be an indication of the dextrinization of starch. Also, the ERG showed a great number of air cells with

a nonuniform air cell distribution and thinner cell walls compared with the EWG. Apparently, it is speculated that the extrudate microstructure (air cells

number, air cells size, cell walls thickness) could be related to expansion ratio and breaking strength. In our study, the results were consistent with the mechanical data (breaking strength)—namely, the more air cell and the thinner the cell walls, the lower the shear force (breaking strength). The microstructure was found to be dependent on the combination of the extrusion conditions (feed moisture, barrel temperature), cellular structure, and the type of protein and starch molecules. The crude saponin and ginsenoside contents of ginseng samples Buspirone HCl are presented in Table 3. According to the calculations, the total ginsenoside contents were found to be 9.66 mg/g, 9.91 mg/g, 16.53 mg/g, and 15.66 mg/g for WG, EWG, RG, and ERG, respectively. Extrusion cooking was observed to have no significant effect on the ginsenoside in this work. The total ginsenoside content of RG was about 1.7 times higher than that of WG. The ginsenoside 20(S)-Rg3 and 20(R)-Rg3 were present in RG and ERG but not in WG and EWG. Sun et al [31] reported that extensive conversion of original ginsenosides in WG to new degradation compounds in RG occurred during the steaming process, leading to different ginsenoside profiles between WG and RG. Du et al [32] reported that the degree of reduction in malonyl ginsenosides was 65.