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Instituto de Fermentaciones Industriales (CSIC), Juan de la Cierva, 3, 28006 Madrid, Spain
Corresponding author:
Rosina López-Fandiño; e-mail:
rosina{at}ifi.csic.es.
| ABSTRACT |
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Key Words: milk plasmin system micelle microstructure ß-LG denaturation
Abbreviation key: CE = capillary electrophoresis,
-ACA =
-aminocaproic acid
| INTRODUCTION |
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High pressure is gaining increasing acceptance as a food-processing technique because it exerts antimicrobial effects and causes reversible and irreversible changes in enzymatic activities, but the sensory and nutritional quality of food is not affected (Huppertz et al., 2002). In milk, plasmin activity was shown to resist at least 400 MPa applied for 30 min at 25°C (López-Fandiño et al., 1996), while these conditions reduced the total plasmin activity after plasminogen activation by 25% (García-Risco et al., 1998). Pressurization at higher temperatures considerably increased plasmin inactivation in milk, which reached 86.5% after treatments at 60°C (García-Risco et al., 2000). Plasmin was also barostable in buffer at room temperature, resisting up to 600 MPa for 20 min, but it was significantly inactivated at 400 MPa in the presence of ß-LG (Scollard et al., 2000a).
Native proteinase activity in pressurized milk could also be driven by factors other than plasmin and plasminogen barostabilities. Pressurization at room temperature causes micellar disintegration and produces casein solubilization (López-Fandiño et al., 1998; Needs et al., 2000), although pressure treatments at temperatures over 40°C progressively increase micelle dimensions (García-Risco et al., 2000). When milk is pressure treated at room temperature, micelle disruption might enhance the susceptibility of casein to proteolysis by increasing the protein surface area available to the enzyme and the exposure of new substrate sites. Furthermore, these changes could also dissociate plasmin and plasminogen, normally attached to the casein micelles (Grufferty and Fox, 1988), to the serum. On the other hand, treatment of milk at pressures higher than 100 MPa induces ß-LG denaturation, which increases with the temperature of the treatment (López-Fandiño et al., 1996; López-Fandiño and Olano, 1998), and unfolded ß-LG can be a potent inhibitor of plasmin through thiol-disulfide bonding (García-Risco et al., 1998; Scollard et al., 2000a; Grufferty and Fox, 1988).
The objective of this work was to estimate the effects of pressure, applied at room temperature, on native proteolytic activity in milk. For this purpose, we have examined plasmin activity as well as plasmin-derived activity after plasminogen activation and their distribution in different milk fractions, micelle structure, ß-LG denaturation, and casein susceptibility to proteolytic attack in pressurized and unpressurized milk.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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Electron Microscopy
Unpressurized and pressurized liquid milk samples (5 ml) were mixed with 5 ml of 3% (wt/vol) agar solution. The mixture was poured on a petri dish, allowed to solidify, and cut into strips of 1 x 10 x 10 mm3, approximately. The strips were fixed for 3 h in 2.5% (vol/vol) glutaraldehyde in PBS (pH 7.0) at 4°C, rinsed three times with PBS, and kept refrigerated overnight in PBS. Then the strips were postfixed in 1% (wt/vol) osmiun tetroxide (Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, MO) for 1 h, rinsed three times with bidistilled water, and dehydrated with increasing concentrations of acetone (40, 60, 70, 90, 95, and 100%). Finally, they were infiltrated four times with a solution containing acetone and Spurrs epoxi resin (Sigma Chemical Co.) in proportions ranging from 3:1 acetone:resin to 100% resin, hardened for 72 h at 65°C, and cut into thin sections that were poststained with 2% uranyl acetate and Reynolds lead citrate. These were examined with a transmission electron microscope (Zeiss 902, Carl Zeiss, Oberkochen, Germany) operated at 80 kV. Micellar sizes were measured manually in 12 x 15 cm sections of the photographs taken at 50,000 x magnification.
Protein Distribution Between Different Milk Fractions
Unpressurized and pressurized milk samples were ultracentrifuged at 100,000 x g for 1 h at 4°C in a Beckman L-70 preparative ultracentrifuge (Beckman Instruments Inc., San Ramon, CA) using a type 70 Ti rotor. The supernatants were carefully removed and filtered through paper Whatman 41. Aliquots of the ultracentrifugation supernatants were treated with 2 M HCl to pH 4.6, followed by centrifugation at 4500 x g for 15 min and filtration through Whatman 41. Denaturation of ß-LG was calculated from the reduction in peak area following pH adjustment to 4.6.
Capillary electrophoresis (CE) was performed as described by Recio and Olieman (1996) with a Beckman P/ACE System MDQ (Beckman Instruments Inc., Fullerton, CA). Separations were carried out at pH 3.0 with a hydrophilic-coated fused-silica capillary (CElect P1, Supelco, Bellefonte, PA) of 0.60 m x 50 µm, with a slit opening of 100 x 800 µm, (0.50 m to detection point), at a temperature of 45°C, with a linear voltage gradient of 0 to 25 kV in 3 min, followed by constant voltage of 25 kV. Protein identification was carried out according to Recio et al. (1997).
Plasmin Activity
The distribution of plasmin and plasmin-derived activity after plasminogen activation by urokinase in the serum and casein fractions of pressurized and unpressurized milks was examined by combining the conventional and modified methodologies proposed by Politis et al. (1993). Skim milk was divided in two aliquots. The first aliquot was incubated with 50 mM
-aminocaproic acid (
-ACA) (Sigma Chemical Co.) for 2 h at room temperature to dissociate plasmin and plasminogen from casein micelles and allow their transfer into the serum fraction. The second aliquot was not treated with
-ACA, so that release of plasmin and plasminogen activities to the serum was not induced. After incubation, the milk samples were ultracentrifuged at 100,000 x g for 1 h at 4°C, and the supernatants were carefully removed and filtered as described above.
The casein pellets were reconstituted to the original volume (35 ml) in 50 mM Tris buffer (pH 8.0) containing 110 mM NaCl and were incubated at room temperature with 50 mM
-ACA to allow the transfer to the buffer of plasmin and plasminogen remaining in the casein micelles. The casein suspensions were then ultracentrifuged at 100,000 x g for 1 h at 4°C, and the filtered supernatants were used for the determination of the enzymatic activities.
Plasmin activity and plasmin-derived activity after plasminogen activation by urokinase were determined by the method originally developed by Rollema et al. (1983) and modified by Korycka-Dahl et al. (1983). Milk serum or buffer (50 µl) was mixed with 950 µl of 50 mM Tris buffer (pH 7.4) containing 110 mM NaCl, 2.5 mM
-ACA and 0.6 mM H-D-valyl-L-leucyl-L-lysine-p-nitroanilide dihydrochloride (V-0882, Sigma Chemical Co.). For the determination of plasmin-derived activity, 150 plough units of urokinase (U-5004, Sigma Chemical Co.) were also added to achieve plasminogen activation. The reaction mixtures were incubated at 37°C, and the absorbances at 405 nm were measured during 3 h in an ELISA plate reader (Multiskan Ascent, Labsystems, Barcelona, Spain). One unit of activity was defined as the amount of enzyme that produces a change in absorbance of 0.001 in 1 min under the assay conditions.
Casein Susceptibility to Plasmin Action
Susceptibility to proteolysis with plasmin was conducted by incubating 10 ml of unpressurized and pressurized skim milks with 75 µl of plasmin from bovine plasma (5 I.U./ml, P-7911, Sigma Chemical Co.) at 37°C during 90 min. Aliquots (1 ml) were withdrawn from the mixtures at intervals (0, 10, 30, 60, and 90 min), and the reactions were stopped by addition of the sample buffer (dilution 1:1.5) used for the CE analysis (Recio and Olieman, 1996).
Changes underwent by unpressurized and pressurized milks on storage, as a result of the action of native plasmin, were compared by keeping milk at refrigeration temperatures (5°C) in the presence of 30 mM NaN3 as inhibitor of the bacterial growth. Samples were taken for analysis at 2-d intervals for 6 d.
Proteolysis of main caseins and appearance of degradation products was determined by CE as explained above. For the purpose of normalization, results were expressed as the quotients of the peak areas of the main degradation products: the sum of
2-casein +
3-casein and
SP-casein divided by the area of
-lactalbumin, because the area of this protein did not change as a result of the pressure or enzymatic treatments.
| RESULTS |
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-casein>
S1-casein>
S0-casein>
S2-casein.
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Plasmin Activity
Plasmin activity and plasmin-derived activity after plasminogen activation were determined in the serum and casein fractions of milk samples incubated in the absence and presence of
-ACA (Table 1
). In unpressurized milk samples, approximately 85% of plasmin activity and 82% of the total plasmin activity produced after plasminogen activation were associated with the casein micelles, as revealed by the measurements performed in the absence of
-ACA. The addition of
-ACA caused approximately 65 to 75% of plasmin activity and of the total plasmin activity obtained after plasminogen activation to be transferred to milk serum. The sum of activities in the serum and casein fractions was lower when the milk samples were initially incubated with
-ACA. This is probably because, in that case, most of the activity was estimated after it was released to the serum, where there are specific inhibitors of the plasmin system (Politis et al., 1993; Precetti et al., 1997).
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-ACA revealed a pressure-induced release of micellar bound enzymes to the serum fractions. Other processes that cause micellar disruption, such as the addition of acids or the growth of psychrotrophic bacteria, also bring about a shift in plasmin from the casein to the whey fraction, which can affect the quality of milk and its derived products (Fajardo-Lira et al., 2000; Hayes and Nielsen, 2000). In samples incubated with
-ACA, plasmin activities measured in the serum and in the casein fractions of milks pressurized at 200 and 400 MPa were closer to that of the unpressurized milk. This indicates that overall plasmin activity did not change considerably as a result of the pressures applied but underwent a different distribution. In fact, it has been reported that plasmin resists pressures of 400 MPa in milk (García-Risco et al., 2000; Scollard et al., 2000b). Nevertheless, the total plasmin activity after plasminogen activation decreased by 20 to 30% with pressurization, which is also in agreement with previous results (García-Risco et al., 1998).
Casein Susceptibility to Plasmin Action
Susceptibility of casein to proteolytic attack was estimated by CE after incubation with exogenous plasmin for up to 90 min at 37°C. As expected, the main degradation products were
2- and
3-caseins, that result from the action of the enzyme of ß-caseins, as well as another fragment, named
SP-, that arises from proteolysis of
S1-casein (Recio et al., 1997). No proteolytic degradation was detected in unpressurized and pressurized milk samples incubated without exogenous plasmin during the same period. Figure 3
illustrates the evolution of those breakdown products during incubation with the enzyme. One-way ANOVA of the data showed that pressurization at 200 and 400 MPa made caseins significantly (P < 0.05%) more vulnerable to the proteolytic attack. Proteolysis was enhanced in milk treated at 400 MPa over milk pressurized at 200 MPa (P < 0.05%).
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| DISCUSSION |
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It should also be noted that, as a consequence of these deep modifications in the micellar structure, not only individual caseins, but also plasmin and plasminogen were released in the soluble fraction of milk on pressurization. Even if the pressure conditions assayed did not lead to plasmin inactivation and only decreased by 20 to 30% of the total plasmin activity after plasminogen activation, it is likely that serum-liberated enzymes became more vulnerable to the action of proteinase inhibitors normally found in the soluble fraction. This could lead to a diminished proteinase activity that could counteract the enhanced susceptibility of caseins to the enzyme, resulting in proteolysis levels on refrigerated storage similar to those undergone by unpressurized milk.
High levels of soluble denatured ß-LG were found in the ultracentrifugation supernatants of pressurized milks, particularly in those treated at 400 MPa. Whether the denatured ß-LG found in the soluble fraction is attached to the pressured-dissociated caseins or polymerized between itself remains unclear. Scollard et al. (2000b), using transmission electron microscopy coupled with immunogold labeling of ß-LG, found ß-LG dots close to disrupted micelle fragments, but definitive evidence for association is lacking. It has been suggested that in ß-LG containing systems pressure inactivation of plasmin may be due to thiol-disulphide bonding with unfolded ß-LG (García-Risco et al., 1998; Scollard et al., 2000a) in a way similar to what occurs when it is exposed to heat (Grufferty and Fox, 1988). Nevertheless, plasmin inactivation does not parallel ß-LG denaturation, the latter being considerably faster (López-Fandiño et al., 1996; Scollard et al., 2000b). Furthermore, plasmin is more pressure resistant in milk than in buffers incorporating ß-LG, which has been attributed to a protective effect due to pressure-induced self-aggregation of ß-LG and/or an increase in the available interaction sites of ß-LG with disrupted casein (Scollard et al., 2000b).
| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
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Received for publication July 15, 2002. Accepted for publication October 1, 2002.
| REFERENCES |
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