Dehydration Artefacts in Gelatinized Starches

Scanning electron microscopy of swollen starch granule systems is valuable for interpretation of structural changes, but the results obtained must be interpreted with caution. The two major drying systems used, solvent exchange and lyophilization, both produce artefacts but of different types. The presence of pores on specimens prepared by lyophilization has often been interpreted as a true feature of the granule structure, but our experience suggests that this is incorrect. Furthermore, we consider that the fibrillar structure present in preparations of lyophilized starch solubles results from ice crystal formation effectively concentrating, in the remainder of the solution, solute which is subsequently preserved as a dry web.