Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) such as acetate, propionate, and butyrate are secondary metabolites produced by anaerobic fermentation of dietary fibers in the intestine. Intestinal SCFAs exert various beneficial effects on intestinal homeostasis, including energy metabolism, autophagy, cell proliferation, immune reaction, and inflammation, whereas contradictory roles of SCFAs in the oral cavity have been reported. Herein, we found that low and high concentrations of SCFAs induce differential regulation of intracellular Ca2+ mobilization and expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8, respectively, in gingival fibroblast cells. Additionally, cell viability was found to be differentially regulated in response to low and high concentrations of SCFAs. These findings demonstrate that the physiological functions of SCFAs in various cellular responses are more likely dependent on their local concentration.

We investigate the effect of the modification of cellulose acetate propionate as an organic vehicle for silver paste on solar cell efficiency. For the modification of cellulose acetate propionate, poly(ethylene glycol) is introduced to the hydroxyl groups of a cellulose acetate propionate backbone via esterification reaction. The chemical structure and composition of poly(ethylene glycol) functionalized cellulose acetate propionate is characterized by Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared, 1H nuclear magnetic resonance, differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis. Due to the effect of structural change for poly(ethylene glycol) functionalized cellulose acetate propionate on the viscosity of silver paste, the solar cell efficiency increases from 18.524% to 18.652 %. In addition, when ethylene carbonate, which has a structure similar to poly(ethylene glycol), is introduced to cellulose acetate propionate via ring opening polymerization, we find that the efficiency of the solar cell increases from 18.524% to 18.622%.

Most propionic acid is added to food (especially breads) as preservatives and its form is sodium or calcium salt. Most countries admitted propionic acid as food preservatives but a tolerance limit is somewhat different according to countries. Recoveries of the official method for propionates reported as 50.0~60.0%. Accordingly new rapid determination method for propionates was developed using formic acid added sodium chloride (5 g) and ether (formic acid : ether = 1 : 2) as the extraction solvent to improve the official method with the complex processes. Propionate was dissolved from the samples with formic acid omitting steam distillation and ion exchange procedure. Then propionate in formic acid was extracted with ether and sodium chloride again. A 1 μl aliquot of the filtrate of ether was analyzed by gas chromatograph. Recoveries from sample A and B fortified with propionic acid sodium salt were 85.0 % and 90.0 %, respectively.

Anaerobic digestion is one of the most economical ways to treat organic wastes; the production of excessive sludge is limited; aeration is not required; operation cost is low; valuable energy resource (methane) is produced. However, propionate, an intermediate substance during the process, is known to inhibit biochemical process at high concentration; but it is difficult to be degraded biologically as its oxidation is thermodynamically unfavorable (△G>0). However, there are several microorganisms which could oxidize propionate fully by their syntrophic association. Therefore, in this research, the propionate enrichment culture was produced in large amount (~1L), and the main players which are responsible for utilizing propionate are identified. Furthermore, the kinetic parameter was obtained from this research. Seed came from two different full-scale anaerobic digesters which is located in Joongrang (JR) and Sincheon (SC). 16s rRNA gnee based metagenomics results indicated that Smithella propionica and Methanobacterium beijingense were the most dominant species in all seeds. The fact that bacterial family Syntrophomonadaceae and archaeal genus Methanosaeta were also found significantly in all seeds means that there might be symbiotic relationship among propionate oxidizing bacteria, butyrate oxidizing bacteria, hydrogenotrophic methanogens and acetotrophic methanogens in complete oxidation of propionate. Based on the first order kinetic which indicated propionate degrading rate, k (1/day) on JR and SC was represented 0.0243 and 0.0223, respectively. Also, based on Modified-Gompertz model, umax on JR and SC was represented as 0.024 and 0.016, respectively.