Effects of thermal treatment on the physicochemical properties and osteogenic activity of lactoferrin. Issue 9 (18th June 2019) - Fan, Fengjiao
Abstract: Lactoferrin as a key basic protein in bovine milk has attracted extensive attentions due to its multifunctional activities. Thermal treatment has been widely used during processing of dairy products, which might damage the bioactivity of heat‐sensitive proteins. However, there has been little information on effect of heat treatment on the bioactivity of lactoferrin. In this study, the effects of four different thermal treatments (65°C/30 min, 72°C/10 s, 85°C/10 min, and 95°C/10 min) on lactoferrin were examined by sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, circular dichroism spectrum, electron microscope, dynamic light scattering, and semiquantitative RT‐PCR. Results revealed that these treatments altered its second structure and surface hydrophobicity. Moreover, the osteogenic activity of lactoferrin decreased by analyzing the effect of different samples on the mitogen‐activated protein kinase mRNA expression. These findings provided theory data for the research and development of lactoferrin as a functional component in food industry. Practical applications: As we know, thermal treatment has been widely used during processing of dairy products. Lactoferrin is a key basic protein component in bovine milk and has a variety of biological activities such as osteogenic activity. However, very few studies have focused on the effect of heat treatment on the osteogenic activity of lactoferrin, thereby limiting its applications. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of heating on the structure and osteogenic activity of lactoferrin. Results showed that the regular heat‐processing parameters in dairy industry and structural change of lactoferrin led to the loss of its osteogenic activity. These results will provide some theoretical and practical data for the development of lactoferrin as ingredient in functional food industry.