Construction and in Vitro Digestion Properties of Pickering Emulsions Stabilized by Three Protein-coated Cellulose Nanocrystals
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Abstract:
Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are modified for emulsion stabilization purposes due to their intrinsic strong hydrophilicity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of using three proteins (bovine serum protein/BSA, sodium caseinate/CAS, and soy protein isolate/SPI) for modifying the surface properties of CNCs through electrostatic modification and their impacts on the in vitro digestion properties of CNC emulsions. The three proteins and CNCs were first investigated for their interaction profiles, protein adsorption percentages, and particle structure characteristics at pH 3.0. The electrostatic interaction was found to be able to combine them (zeta potential between -35 and +20 mV). Meanwhile, the adsorption of proteins on CNC surfaces was gradually reduced from 100% (protein concentration at 0~0.1% m/V) to 40%~60% (protein concentration at 0.5% m/V). Electrostatic modification caused CNCs to flocculate and become significantly more amphiphilic (contact angle increased from 35° to 75°~80°). It was found that protein-coated CNCs formed flocculated emulsions with particle sizes of 3~9 μm and had better coalescence stability, with no significant differences between the three proteins. The simulated in vitro digestion results show that protein-coated CNC-stabilized emulsions released less free fatty acid (~80%) than the Tween 20 emulsion (90%), with no significant difference between different protein coatings. It can be seen that the common three proteins can be used to modify CNCs by electrostatic adsorption and transform them into good Pickering stabilizers. The findings in this paper can greatly enrich the source of food-grade Pickering stabilizers and promote the development of related functional emulsions for the food industry.
