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Ultrastructural Observations on the Milk Fat Globule Envelope of Cow's Milk

Research and Development Department, Nestle Products, Technical Assistance Ltd., 1800 Vevey, Switzerland

ABSTRACT

To further elucidate the complex fine structure of the milk fat globule envelope, fresh cream and isolated fat globule membrance material were examined electron microscopically by three different but complementary preparation techniques: Thin sectioning, negative staining, and freeze-etching. After thin sectioning most of the fat globules were surrounded only by a simple limiting membrance to which casein micelles may be adsorbed. A higher percentage of fat globules still enveloped by a unit membrance was found after freeze-etching, indicating that physical stabilization by rapid freezing is preferable to chemical fixation. Vesicle formation of isolated fat globule membrane material depends upon the purity of the membrane fractions. Based on these morphological observations a structural model of the milk fat globule envelope which may serve as a working hypothesis for further more detailed studies is proposed.