Interfacial shear rheology of beta-lactoglobulin-Bovine submaxillary mucin layers adsorbed at air/water interface

The interfacial rheological properties of solutions of beta-lactoglobulin (BLG), as a model food compound, mixed with bovine submaxillary mucin (BSM), a major salivary protein, have been investigated. Time, frequency, stress sweep and flow measurements have been performed at different pHs (7.4, 5.0 and 3.0), to investigate the air/water interfacial properties. All protein layers (BLG, BSM, and BLG-BSM mixtures) formed an elastic network at the air/water interface with low frequency dependence of the interfacial modulus. The results indicated that BLG moves faster as smaller molecule than mucin, and dominate the surface adsorption and the network formation for the BLG-BSM mixtures. Moreover, BLG-BSM protein mixtures exhibited interfacial properties with lower elastic and viscous moduli than BLG, as a result of competitive displacement of BLG proteins with BSM5 from the interface. It is suggested that hydrophobic patches of BSM can be imbedded into the BLG monolayer as driven by a strong hydrophobic interaction with air and disrupt the cohesive assembly of BLG, whereas the hydrophilic (negatively charged) parts of the BSM chain are protruding from the interface towards the bulk water. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.