Development details of an Artificial Gastric Digestive System (AGDS) and analysis of model food disintegration and degradation

The individual differences and ethical limitations of in vivo studies have prompted the development of in vitro digestive models. In this study, an Artificial Gastric Digestive System (AGDS) with the geometry and motion of the human stomach was designed and operated. Five agar beads with different breaking forces (0.35-0.95 N) were applied in AGDS model to verify the gastric breakdown behaviour. Results showed that the degradation degree of agar beads in AGDS was significantly different to that in the shaking water bath. Besides, beads in a high-viscosity medium (30 Pas) had a shorter breaking time (26 min) than that in a low-viscosity medium (0.69 Pas, 37 min). AGDS can simulate peristalsis and dynamic flow kinetics, thus it pushes forward the understanding of food degradation and nutrients release during gastric digestion and may inspire the design of versatile artificial stomach based on specific populations.