Abstract:
To explore effects of common metal chlorides (NaCl and CaCl
2) in food system on the growth process and morphology of soy protein isolate (SPI) fibrils. The SPI fibrillation was induced by the acid-heat treatment (pH2, 85 ℃) in the presence of NaCl and CaCl
2 to prepare soy protein isolate fibrils (SPIF). The addition of NaCl and CaCl
2 significantly increased the Th T fluorescence intensity of SPIF at the maturity phase, with their primary nucleation rates reaching 3.29×10
10 and 4.12×10
10 mol
−2·h
−2, respectively. In the initial stage of fibrillation (0~4 h), NaCl and CaCl
2 promoted the hydrolysis of
α,
α’ and
β subunits of SPI, and their surface hydrophobicities increased to 5.1×10
7 and 5.7×10
7 respectively, and the free sulfhydryl contenr in SPI induced by CaCl
2 increased significantly to 24.5 μmol/L (
P<0.05). In the middle and late stages of fibrillation (4~24 h), the average particle sizes of SPI induced by NaCl and CaCl
2 increased significantly (
P<0.05), reaching 6008 and 5930 nm, respectively. In the mature SPIF (24 h), antiparallel/parallel
β-sheet ratios were 7.16 and 1.59, respectively. The results showed that the addition of NaCl and CaCl
2 promoted the hydrolysis of SPI and the formation of nucleation monomers during fibrillation process, increased the primary nucleation rate of SPI fibrillation, promoted the formation of SPIF, and had a regulatory effect on the morphology of SPIF, making it form larger clustered fibril aggregates. In addition, compared with NaCl, CaCl
2 had a more significant effect on promoting the growth process and regulating the morphology of SPIF. This study provides a certain theoretical basis for the controllable regulation and application of SPIF in food system.