Contribution to an Understanding of the Action of Gamma Radiation on Granular Starch - Interpretation of Results Obtained Using the Enzymatic and Chromatographic Method

Besides compounds of low molecular mass, the gamma irradiation of granular starch produces radiodextrins with a mass lying between that of the low-molecular-mass compounds and that of the amylose and amylopectin macromolecules from which they derive. The authors present the main results relating to characterization of the radiodextrins of strongly irradiated normal and waxy maize starches. The method of study - both enzymatic and chromatographic - is the one that has been in use for some ten years for studying the fine structure of α -1.4 - 1.6 glucanes. An attempt is made to interpret and integrate the results in the light of new data derived from a study of the controlled acid hydrolysis of starch. In particular, the following hypothesis is advanced: the hydrolytic effect of irradiation is, at the qualitative level, independent of the nature of the starch and similar to the effect produced by acid hydrolysis; as with acid hydrolysis, the breaking of the covalent bonds is a function of the internal structure of the grain and especially of its amorphous/crystalline organization; the zones of an amorphous character are more easily degraded; on the other hand, the 'crystalline' zones are better protected; in fact, the 'hydrolytic' effect of irradiation is not homogeneous and does not conform to a statistical pattern. (author)