Heteroprotein complex coacervation has potential for a wide range of applications. However, the sensitivity of coacervates to slight changes in physico-chemical conditions may constitute a technological barrier for their development and deserves to be better understood. In this study, the rheological properties of β-lactoglobulin/lactoferrin (βLG/LF) heteroprotein complex coacervates were investigated with respect to narrow changes of temperature (5-40 °C) and ionic strength (0 to 10 mM added NaCl).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCoacervates of oppositely charged milk proteins are used in functional food development, mainly to encapsulate bioactives. To uncover the driving forces behind coacervates formation, we study the association of lactoferrin and β-lactoglobulin at amino-acid level detail, using molecular simulations. Our findings show that inter-protein electrostatic interactions dominate and are, surprisingly, equally divided between an isotropic part, due to monopole-monopole attraction of the oppositely charged proteins, and an anisotropic part due to uneven surface charge distributions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCombination of plant and animal protein diet is becoming a valuable source of nutrition in the modern diet due to the synergistic functional properties inherent in these protein complexes. Moreover, the synergy between animal and plant proteins can contribute to the high stability and improved solubility of the encapsulated bioactive ingredients (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this study, the capacity of eight essential oils (EOs), sage (Salvia officinalis), coriander (Coriandrum sativum), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), black cumin (Nigella sativa), prickly juniper (Juniperus oxycedrus), geranium (Pelargonium graveolens), oregano (Origanum vulgare) and wormwood (Artemisia herba-alba), on the inhibition of NF-κB activation was screened at concentrations up to 0.25 µL/mL using THP-1 human macrophages bearing a NF-κB reporter. This screening selected coriander, geranium, and wormwood EOs as the most active, which later evidenced the ability to decrease over 50 % IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α and COX-2 mRNA expression in LPS-stimulated THP-1 macrophages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHeteroprotein complex coacervation is an assembly formed by oppositely charged proteins in aqueous solution that leads to liquid-liquid phase separation. The ability of lactoferrin and β-lactoglobulin to form complex coacervates at pH 5.5 under optimal protein stoichiometry has been studied in a previous work.
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