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Dynamic Water Mobility in Sea Cucumber (Stichopus japonicas) during Drying Process Assessed by LF-NMR and MRI in situ

Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the water dynamics in sea cucumber (Stichopus japonicas) during drying process in situ by the fast and non-destructive low field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods. T 2 relaxation spectra in three-dimensional (3D) color map surface image from LF-NMR showed three main peaks assigned to bound water with relaxation time less than 2 ms, immobilized water in the range of 15-150 ms and extra-collagen fibrillar bulk water or free water adhered onto the sea cucumber with the longest relaxation time 200-1600 ms. The water dynamics in sea cucumber during drying process was clearly observed from the 3D color map surface image. Significant correlations between the LF-NMR T 2 parameters (ATotal, A 23 and T 23) and TPA parameters were observed, demonstrating that LF-NMR might be a complementary technique in monitoring the textural properties of sea cucumber during drying process.