DSC Analysis of foodborne bacteria

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is applicable to studying the thermal properties of bacteria when treated with heat, cold, or antibiotics. Foodborne pathogens are inactivated by heat, and denaturation transitions observed by DSC indicate potential sites of cellular injury. Ribosomes, which are the sites for messenger RNA translation, are one critical component of thermal damage as evidenced by characteristic denaturation transitions in the 66-74°C range. These transitions disappear when cells of Clostridium perfringens are subjected to heat, suggesting structural or conformational changes to ribosomal proteins, and when cells of Listeria monocytogenes are cold-shocked by refrigeration, indicating ribosomal dissociation. DSC can be used to show that refrigeration followed by heat treatment improves the killing of dangerous microorganisms.     

A convenient tool for studying the stability of proteins and nucleic acids

The aim of this work is to discuss the thermodynamic properties, obtained by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), of the thermal transition of proteins and nucleic acids and to analyze these data using statistical thermodynamic relations. The denaturation of the ordered, specific structures of biological macromolecules is a cooperative process and in many cases the macromolecules undergo a two-state transition. Differential scanning calorimetry, giving direct thermodynamic information, has proved to be very useful in clarifying the energetics of macromolecule transitions and in characterizing their thermal stability. Here, various examples are discussed: i) the equilibrium thermal denaturation of ribonuclease A, a model for the use of DSC by following the temperature-unfolding of the proteins, a monomolecular transition; ii) the equilibrium thermal dissociation of a DNA double helix in two strands, an example of how DSC is used to follow a bimolecular process; iii) an example of the use of DSC for studying the melting of unimolecular and tetramolecular DNA quadruple-helices.     

Protein denaturation in dosage forms measured by differential scanning calorimetry

The stability of beta-galactosidase dosage forms was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). It was found that the observed enthalpy of thermal denaturation was approximately in proportion to remaining enzyme activity, and denaturation temperature was related to protein stability. These results suggest that DSC can be used to determine native proteins in dosage forms and to clarify the factors affecting protein stability. The DSC method seems to be more convenient than conventional activity assay methods, and useful to follow protein denaturation during the manufacturing process and storage of dosage forms.     

Behavior of foods studied by thermal analysis: Introduction

In the investigation of foods by thermal analysis and calorimetric techniques, many physico-chemical effects can be observed in the temperature range between –50 and 300°C. These thermal phenomena may be either endothermic, such as melting, gelatinization, denaturation, evaporation or exothermic, such as crystallization, oxydation, fermentation. Glass transitions are observed as a shift in the base line; this information, associated with water content and water activity determinations, is of particular interest in relation to storage of food powders but also for gas retention in powders foreseen to foam when dissolved.The thermal behavior of foods strongly depends on their composition; we therefore present first the thermal characteristics of the major food constituents: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, water and then of raw and reconstituted food.This revised version was published online in November 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A calorimetric study of egg white proteins

Egg white is of great interest for many culinary and industrial applications. Egg white is used for coating, gluing, thickening and so on in pasta, desserts, etc. There is thus a great interest from the industrial point of view to better know this raw material, used in very large amounts in the dessert production for example, and to obtain egg white fractions with different functional properties.Various egg white fractions prepared by selected procedures were analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The products resulting from a given fractionation procedure can thus be described by the thermal denaturation parameters (temperatures and enthalpies) of the egg white proteins.This work demonstrates the interest of the DSC technique and proves that the fractionation procedures selected here give the expected protein fractions.     

牛血清IgG热化学变性和热变性的研究

使用差示扫描量热仪(DSC)和荧光光谱法研究了在pH 7.4时牛血清IgG (bIgG)热变性, 热化学变性和等温化学变性过程(变性剂为尿素和盐酸胍), 首次报道了bIgG在热化学变性和等温化学变性过程中的相关热力学参数. DSC和荧光光谱实验结果表明, bIgG的热变性和热化学变性过程都是较复杂的不可逆过程, 这个过程可被看作一个三态变构过程. DSC实验表明在热化学变性过程中bIgG的变性温度和焓变值会随着环境中的变性剂浓度的升高而降低. 使用荧光光谱法对bIgG在尿素或盐酸胍存在下的等温化学变性过程进行了研究, 结果显示bIgG的化学变性过程也是一个较复杂的非二态过程. 实验数据分析表明, 变性剂尿素和盐酸胍与bIgG之间主要是依靠氢键相互作用的, 而热变性过程中bIgG的凝集是由于bIgG热变性时结构改变后暴露出的疏水结构互相作用造成的. 实验结果还表明单纯的热变性只能导致bIgG的不完全变性, 而即使是在高浓度变性剂存在时的bIgG热化学变性, 尿素和盐酸胍分别导致的bIgG热化学变性的去折叠态也是不同的.     

Effect of accelerated thermal ageing on the thermal behaviour of the recently made parchments

To reveal the fire injuring of parchment, the changes in the thermal behaviour of some goat parchments, obtained from skins originating from different animals, as a result of thermal aging were determined by thermal analysis methods (DSC; simultaneous TG/DTG, DSC; micro hot table (MHT)). Thermal aging of parchments was revealed to bring about the decrease in shrinkage temperature, absolute value of enthalpy of denaturation in water and some changes in non-isothermal parameters characteristic for dehydration process in static air atmosphere. The results obtained by DSC analysis performed in N₂ and O₂ flows as well as those obtained by simultaneous TG/DTG, DSC analyses have shown that both softening (melting) process parameters and parameters of thermo-oxidative processes have not been changed by thermal ageing. The results obtained by thermal analysis methods were correlated with those obtained by microscopic investigation of parchment samples immersed in water and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The application of these microscopic techniques has revealed the morphology changes in the investigated parchments as a result of thermal degradation.     

Determination of bisphenol S in food and drink take away packaging by LC-MS/MS

ABSTRACT

Food packaging is a key part within the food safety. The components of these food contact materials should be studied with great caution because they can migrate to the food depending on several factors. Many of these food containers are made of materials such as polycarbonates or paper and cardboard. These polymeric materials can decompose at high temperatures and bisphenolic compounds, such as bisphenol S, can migrate from the contact material to the food. It is suspected that Bisphenol S is a Bisphenol A substitute and an endocrine disrupter with potential acute toxicity, genotoxicity and estrogenic activity, even in very low concentration on the order of tens to hundreds of nanograms per kilogram body weight. In this work, a method by liquid chromatography coupled to a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer (LC-MS/MS) has been developed for the analysis of bisphenol S in different cardboard take away packaging of food and drinks without any sample preparation step. The analyte was separated on a Kinetex C18 (100 × 2.1 mm, 2.6 μm size of particle) column and using methanol: water as mobile phase. The proposed method exhibited an appropriate sensitivity with a limit of detection of 1 µg/L, good linearity and the analysis is completed in only 3 min.     

Combination of TREF, high-temperature HPLC, FTIR and HPer DSC for the comprehensive analysis of complex polypropylene copolymers

A novel, powerful analytical technique, preparative temperature rising elution fractionation (prep TREF)/high-temperature (HT)-HPLC/Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)/high-performance differential scanning calorimetry (HPer DSC)), has been introduced to study the correlation between the polymer chain microstructure and the thermal behaviour of various components in a complex impact polypropylene copolymer (IPC). For the comprehensive analysis of this complex material, in a first step, prep TREF is used to produce less complex but still heterogeneous fractions. These chemically heterogeneous fractions are completely separated by using a highly selective chromatographic separation method—high-temperature solvent gradient HPLC. The detailed structural and thermal analysis of the HPLC fractions was conducted by offline coupling of HT-HPLC with FTIR spectroscopy and a novel DSC method—HPer DSC. Three chemically different components were identified in the mid-elution temperature TREF fractions. For the first component, identified as isotactic polypropylene homopolymer by FTIR, the macromolecular chain length is found to be an important factor affecting the melting and crystallisation behaviour. The second component relates to ethylene–propylene copolymer molecules with varying ethylene monomer distributions and propylene tacticity distributions. For the polyethylene component (last eluting component in all semi-crystalline TREF fractions), it was found that branching produced defects in the long crystallisable ethylene sequences that affected the thermal properties. The different species exhibit distinctively different melting and crystallisation behaviour, as documented by HPer DSC. Using this novel approach of hyphenated techniques, the chain structure and melting and crystallisation behaviour of different components in a complex copolymer were investigated systematically.

Redox Denaturation of Proteins: Electrochemical Treatment of Egg Plasma

Although acid/base reactions are used widely to denature proteins during food processing, the application of reduction/oxidation (redox) reactions are relatively rare in this field. Herein, we demonstrate a “redox denaturation” of proteins, using egg plasma as a model. Electrochemical treatment of egg plasma in the presence of iodide ion (I^?) selectively induced intramolecular disulfide bond formations, resulting in a different type of denaturation than that achieved via heat treatment. The reaction mechanism was examined through electrochemical analysis using cyclic voltammetry. Although the involvement of hypervalent iodine (“I⁺”) cannot be ruled out, molecular iodine (I₂) generated at the surface of anode is the most likely oxidizing agent that formed the disulfide bonds. We believe that the redox denaturation of proteins described herein would be a promising approach in food processing and can find practical applications in this field.     

Interaction of a Rhodococcus sp. trehalose lipid biosurfactant with model proteins: thermodynamic and structural changes

One major application of surfactants is to prevent aggregation during various processes of protein manipulation. In this work, a bacterial trehalose lipid (TL) with biosurfactant activity, secreted by Rhodococcus sp., has been identified and purified. The interactions of this glycolipid with selected model proteins have been studied by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), and fluorescence spectroscopy. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) and cytochrome c (Cyt-c) have been chosen because of their quite different secondary structures: BSA contains essentially no β-sheets and an average 66% α-helix, whereas Cyt-c possesses up to 25% β-sheets and up to 45% α-helical structure. Differential scanning calorimetry shows that addition of TL to BSA at concentrations below the critical micelle concentration (cmc) shifts the thermal unfolding temperature to higher values. FTIR indicates that TL does not alter the secondary structure of native BSA, but the presence of TL protects the protein toward thermal denaturation, mainly by avoiding formation of β-aggregates. Studies on the intrinsic Trp fluorescence of BSA show that addition of TL to the native protein results in conformational changes. BSA unfolding upon thermal denaturation in the absence of TL makes the Trp residues less accessible to the quencher, as shown by a decrease in the value of Stern-Volmer dynamic quenching constant, whereas denaturation in the presence of the biosurfactant prevents unfolding, in agreement with FTIR results. In the case of Cyt-c, interaction with TL gives rise to a new thermal denaturation transition, as observed by DSC, at temperatures below that of the native protein, therefore facilitating thermal unfolding. Binding of TL to native BSA and Cyt-c, as determined by ITC, suggests a rather nonspecific interaction of the biosurfactant with both proteins. FTIR indicates that TL slightly modifies the secondary structure of native Cyt-c, but protein denaturation in the presence of TL results in a higher proportion of β-aggregates than in its absence (20% vs 3.9%). The study of Trp fluorescence upon TL addition to Cyt-c results in a completely opposite scenario to that described above for BSA. In this case, addition of TL considerably increases the value of the dynamic quenching constant, both in native and denatured protein; that is, the interaction with the glycolipid induces conformational changes which facilitate the exposure of Trp residues to the quencher. Considering the structures of both proteins, it could be derived that the characteristics of TL interactions, either promoting or avoiding thermal unfolding, are highly dependent on the protein secondary structure. Our results also suggest the rather unspecific nature of these interactions. These might well involve protein hydrophobic domains which, being buried into the protein native structures, become exposed upon thermal unfolding.     

Bird muscles under hydrostatic high-pressure/temperature combinations

Breast muscles from three different birds were subjected to hydrostatic high-pressure (400 MPa)/temperature (10–75°C) combinations, and the denaturation-induced effects on the pressurized proteins monitored by DSC. Comparisons with parallel results from heating-alone processes were established. Actin was the most labile moiety to pressurization and myosin together with sarcoplasmic proteins were next in observing pressure-induced denaturation at low temperatures. Some myosin derivatives (fragments or aggregates) and collagen remained native-like under pressure at any temperature. As previously reported, pressure and temperature showed interdependent and antagonistic-like effects. Hydrostatic high-pressure caused severe proteins denaturation at non thermal denaturing temperatures. At thermally active conditions, pressure preserved proteins from subsequent thermal denaturation. This last effect was lower than in similar but destructured myosystems (batters) because of the absence of functional salts but presumably also by steric hindrance.     

微管蛋白的聚合和变性及紫杉醇的影响

微管系统在细胞中执行许多重要功能山．微管在细胞中呈现高度的时间和空间有序性,并与构成它的结构单元—一微管蛋白（土。l｝）lllil。）保持动态平衡,而且这种平衡是局域的和暂时的,Mit（Jlisou和Krscllner根据他们的微管体外实验及体内微管聚合特性称之为微管生长的动态不稳定性＊1．微管的生理功能正是与它的这种根本特性有关．另有研究发现微管是许多药物包括许多抗癌药物作用的靶子问．如紫杉醇（TaX01）＊等．因此国际上研究微管蛋白的聚合过程以及药物分子的作用是微管研究中的热点问题之一．生理状态下微管蛋白以。月异二聚体…     

Thermal analysis,state transitions and food quality

Thermal properties of food systems are important in understanding relationships between food properties and changes in food quality. Concentrated food systems (low-moisture and frozen foods) are seldom in an equilibrium state and they tend to form amorphous, non-crystalline structures. Several glass transition-related changes in such foods affect stability, e.g., stickiness and caking of powders, crispness of snack foods and breakfast cereals, crystallisation of amorphous sugars, recrystallisation of gelatinised starch, ice formation and recrystallisation in frozen foods and rates of non-enzymatic browning and enzymatic reactions. Relationships between glass transition, water plasticisation and relaxation times can be shown in state diagrams. State diagrams are useful as stability or quality maps and in the control of rates of changes in food processing and storage.This revised version was published online in November 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Stability of bovine serum albumin at different pH

Summary The effect of pH on the thermal denaturation of BSA containing fatty acids was studied by use of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Thermal scanning of BSA aqueous solutions gave various types of DSC curves depending on the protein concentration and on the pH. The broad bimodal endothermic transition was suggested to be connected with loose protein structure in contradistinction to single peak for compact molecule structure. The propensity toward precipitation at pH conditions ranging from 3.8 to 5 was observed. A scan-rate independent and partly reversible behavior of the thermal heating of BSA was found. Deconvolution of DSC traces in non-two-state model with assumption of two- or three-component transition allowed to study the effect of pH on different parts of BSA molecule.     

Studies on gelation of soybean globulin solutions

Thermal denaturation of soybean globulin fraction (SBGF) in diluted solution (protein concentration 0.15–0.63%) has been studied by the method of differential adiabatic scanning calorimetry. SBGF thermograms have two maxima. The low temperature maximum is consistent with denaturation of 7S component, while the high temperature maximum with denaturation of 11S components of this fraction. In the investigated range of protein concentrations the thermodynamic parameters (temperature and enthalpy) of denaturation of SBGF and its main components are constant. This fact suggests that differential adiabatic scanning calorimetry gives information purporting a change in the protein state at molecular level. The temperatures and enthalpies of denaturation of the main SBGF components linearly rise with increase of NaCl concentration. The slope of dependences of denaturation temperature on salt concentration,K _s, is extremely large (nearly 20 K · l/mole). The elementary thermodynamic theory of lyotropic effects in thermal denaturation of proteins has been developed based on the two-state model and linear approximation of protein-salt interactions by means of the corresponding second virial coefficient. It shows that the dependences of thermodynamic parameters of thermal denaturation on salt concentration should be linear in the initial section. This conclusion is consistent with the experiment. The differences of enthalpies and entropies of transferring denatured and native forms of the main SBGF components from water into NaCl solution have been determined. They are positive and their quantity increases linearly with salt concentration. This fact is consistent with the concept to the effect that the main factor of salt influence on thermal denaturation of SBGF is confined to a decrease of protein hydration. The effect of protein nature on the quantity of lyotropic effect in thermal denaturation has been considered. Using simple considerations as a basis, the dependence of the ratio betweenK _s and the denaturation temperature in water has been obtained, which characterizes the lyotropic effect, on the molar fraction of hydrophobic residues in the protein molecule. This dependence is linear and the lyotropic effect rises with increase in the content of hydrophobic residues. It is satisfactorily consistent with the experimental data on NaCl effect on thermal denaturation temperature for ichthyocol gelatin, ribonuclease, lysozyme, 7S and 11S SBGF components. An extraordinary strong influence of NaCl on thermal denaturation temperatures for the main SBGF components can be accounted for by a relatively high content of hydrophobic residues.     

DSC Study of the Effects of High Pressure and Spray-Drying Treatment on Porcine Plasma

One use of blood generated in abattoirs is to obtain dehydrated plasma which can be used as a functional ingredient in the preparation of foods. High hydrostatic pressure is a new technique for improvement of the sanitary quality of food products or their ingredients. The changes caused in the proteins by treatment can affect their functional properties, and differential scanning calorimetry DSC was therefore applied to detect possible conformational changes in the plasma proteins. The DSC results in the present study show that spray-drying does not appreciably affect the protein structure, but high-pressure treatment seems to have a denaturing effect. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Interfacial rheological properties of adsorbed protein layers and surfactants: a review

Proteins and low molecular weight (LMW) surfactants are widely used for the physical stabilisation of many emulsions and foam based food products. The formation and stabilisation of these emulsions and foams depend strongly on the interfacial properties of the proteins and the LMW surfactants. Therefore these properties have been studied extensively. In this review an overview is given of interfacial properties of proteins at a mesoscopic scale and the effect of LMW surfactants (emulsifiers) on them. Properties addressed are the adsorbed amount, surface tension (reduction), network formation at interfaces and possible conformational changes during and after adsorption. Special attention is given to interfacial rheological behaviour of proteins at expanding and compressing interfaces, which simulate the behaviour in real emulsions and foams. It will be illustrated that information on interfacial rheological properties, protein conformation and interactions between adsorbed molecules can be obtained by changing experimental conditions. The relation between interfacial rheology and emulsion and foam stabilisation is subsequently addressed. It is concluded that there is a need for new measuring devices that monitor several interfacial properties on a mesoscopic and microscopic scale at the same time, and for physical models describing the various processes of importance for proteins. Real progress will only be possible if both are combined in an innovative way.     

Membrane proteins in thin films

Molecular functions and structural changes of membrane proteins in an aqueous environment can be elucidated by reaction-induced FTIR difference spectroscopy upon photolysis of caged compounds. The achieved detection of IR band changes even due to single amino acid residues is, however, only possible in the presence of very high protein concentrations, implying that a low water content must be present. In general, the films are formed by controlled dehydration of membrane protein suspensions at reduced pressure and low temperature. For the retention of enzymatic activity of Na,K-ATPase, for example, a cosolvent such as glycerol is required. In order to interprete the results obtained by FTIR spectroscopy, it is important to know whether essential properties of the proteins such as hydration are changed upon film formation. Therefore, a differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) study has been carried out with purified Na,K-ATPase and Ca-ATPase in suspension, in form of pellets obtained by high-speed ultracentrifugation and in thin films. As relevant thermoanalytical properties, the endothermic denaturation transitions of the proteins have been studied. For Na,K-ATPase in the presence of 20% glycerol as cosolvent, a single, comparatively narrow endothermic and irreversible denaturation transition with a denaturation enthalpy of about 1.7 MJ mol⁻¹ and transition temperatures of about 65 and 70°C is found in concentrated suspension and in the state of the pellet, respectively. In the case of thin films suitable for IR spectroscopy, a characteristic change is observed in a reproducible manner. The enthalpy change of the remaining transition around 70°C is reduced but an additional transition at about 77°C is observed. Based on control experiments, the new high temperature transition is attributed to a partially dehydrated state of the protein. Furthermore, a comparatively broad endothermic transition around 20°C is found under conditions of high protein concentrations (film), which is tentatively assigned to a transition of the lipid environment of this integral membrane protein. Similar results are found for Ca-ATPase films. In the absence of glycerol, the deoxycholate treated enzyme in suspension exhibits a narrow endothermic main transition at 52°C with a denaturation enthalpy around 0.9 MJ mol⁻¹. For the film of this protein, two almost equally large endothermic transitions are found at 59 and 77°C. Also here, the data are characteristic of partial protein dehydration. These results show clearly that DSC can easily be applied in a sensitive manner to control and characterize the integrity and hydration properties of concentrated protein samples in thin films.     

基于质谱技术的食品过敏原检测方法研究进展

食品过敏原分析在食品安全领域具有重要的研究意义。质谱技术由于能够提供待分析物的化学结构信息等特点,已逐渐应用于食品过敏原等大分子检测领域,具有简单高效、高特异性、高通量和高灵敏度等优点,引起了研究者们的广泛关注。该文综述了近年来质谱技术在食品过敏原检测领域的最新研究进展情况。