Effect of Different Ohmic Heating Treatments on the Structure of Parvalbumin and the Abrogation of Allergenicity in Japanese Eel (Anguilla Japonica)

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the effects of ohmic heating (OH) on the structural properties and allergenicity of parvalbumin (PV). High purity PV was obtained from eel meat via salting, dialysis and column chromatography. Western boltting, ELISA, the simulated gastric fluid (SGF) assay, and the simulated intestinal fluid (SIF) assay, showed that the digestive stability of PV improved to some extent with an increase in OH time. The time and energy required for OH significantly decreased compared to other heating methods (water bath heating (WH), OH combined with WH, and OH combined with air thermostatic heating (AH)). SDS-PAGE and tricine-SDS-PAGE analyses showed that the molecular weight of PV was approximately 12 kDa and that the molecular weight of PV did not change, however the protein bands became shallower with prolonged OH time. The amino acid content, secondary structure, microstructure and dielectric properties of PV changed significantly with prolonged OH exposure.

Keywords: Allergen, Japanese eel, Parvalbumin, Ohmic heating treatment, Protein structure, Protein allergy abatement