The Reactivity and Allergenic Potential of Hazelnut Peptides
<p>The aim of this paper was to focus on proteins present in some food products, like hazelnuts and to investigate their allergenic potential. Several techniques were used to characterize these extracted proteins, with respect to their composition, degradability by digestive proteolytic enzyme...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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AcademicPres
2013-11-01
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| Series: | Bulletin of University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca: Food Science and Technology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journals.usamvcluj.ro/index.php/fst/article/view/9506 |
| Summary: | <p>The aim of this paper was to focus on proteins present in some food products, like hazelnuts and to investigate their allergenic potential. Several techniques were used to characterize these extracted proteins, with respect to their composition, degradability by digestive proteolytic enzymes and their reactivity with specific antibodies. It was important to analyse which proteins were present in the hazelnuts, to see if there were proteins present to trigger an allergic reaction and if the digestion enzymes trypsin and pepsin influence the presence of the (allergic) protein compounds.</p> <p>Allergies to tree nuts and seeds can cause life-threatening and sometimes fatal reactions. To examine the properties of Hazelnut protein it was important to solubilize it by extraction. After extraction, it was investigated how hazelnut protein can be modified by proteases and what the effect was on the immune reaction.<strong></strong></p> <p>The Bradford method is a fast and sensitive method to determine the concentration of soluble protein. When the Bradford reagent (Coomassie Brilliant Blue) binds to the protein, the colour changes from red to purple and the absorption maximum changes from 495 to 595 nm. The value obtained as the final concentration of proteins was 7.3495.</p> <p>SDS-PAGE is a method to separate mixtures of proteins by electrophoresis. Protein molecules are negatively charged by binding of SDS molecules; subsequently they are separated in an electric field. Their differences in size (molecular weight) leads to separation. In this case the method is used to follow proteolytic degradation of hazelnut proteins (allergens) by intestinal proteases (trypsin, pepsin).</p> <p>A different, more specific and sensitive method is immunoblotting (Western Blot) in which the SDS-PAGE separated proteins are transferred from the gel to a membrane and specific antibodies are used in a series of reactions to visualize specific allergens on this membrane. The remarked spots represented a positive identification of allergenic proteins. This means that peptide fragments of various size, produced during the digestion of a protein can still be immunological active. As it was shown there was still reactivity between proteins and specific antibodies.</p> <p>The Dot Blot is a simple immunoblotting technique used to detected specific proteins in a mixture of different proteins and/or other molecules. No separation technique prior to the actual immuno-detection is necessary. Also, Dot Blot confirmed the presence of allergenic proteins made visible through the light spots on the membrane.</p> |
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| ISSN: | 2344-2344 2344-5300 |