The enhancement of gastrointestinal digestibility of β-LG by dynamic high-pressure microfluidization to reduce its antigenicity

Dynamic high-pressure microfluidization (DHPM) can increase the antigenicity of beta-lactoglobulin (beta-LG) in previous researches. We observed in this study that the antigenicity of DHPM-modified beta-LG at pressures of 0.1, 80 and 160 MPa after in vitro digestion declined from 13.41 to 12.27 and 7.19 mu g mL(-1), gradually. The enhancement of gastrointestinal digestibility of beta-LG was related to the aggregation state and conformational changes induced by DHPM and was reflected by the electrophoretic bands of low molecular weight (5 and 10 kDa) shown in electrophoresis, the reduction of particle size, the generation of smaller peptide fragments (m/z 837.444, 955.492 and 1215.616) detected by mass spectrum and the increase in surface hydrophobicity. These changes contributed to the decrease in antigenicity. Simultaneously, a schematic diagram was proposed to demonstrate the conceivable mechanism of antigenicity changes of modified beta-LG after in vitro digestion.