TY - JOUR
T1 - Structural and tribological studies on the interaction of porcine gastric mucin with non- and cationic-modified β-lactoglobulins
AU - Shirazi, Hadi Asgharzadeh
AU - Lee, Seunghwan
AU - Ullah, Saif
AU - Almdal, Kristoffer
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - β-lactoglobulin (BLG) is the major whey protein with negatively charges at neutral pH in aqueous media. Thus, the interaction with mucins, the major polyanionic component of mucus, is very weak due to the electrostatic repulsion between them. The present study postulated that cationization of BLG molecules may reverse the interaction characteristics between BLG and mucin from repulsive to associative. To this end, cationic-modified BLGs were prepared by grafting positively charged ethylenediamine (EDA) moieties into the negatively charged carboxyl groups on the aspartic and glutamic acid residues and compared with non-modified BLG upon mixing with porcine gastric mucin (PGM). To characterize the structural and conformational features of PGM, non/cationized BLGs, and their mixtures, various spectroscopic approaches, including zeta potential, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy were employed. Importantly, we have taken surface adsorption with optical waveguide lightmode spectroscopy (OWLS), and tribological properties with pin-on-disk tribometry at the sliding interface as the key approaches to determine the interaction nature between them as mixing PGM with polycations can lead to synergistic lubrication at the nonpolar substrate in neutral aqueous media as a result of an electrostatic association. All the spectroscopic studies and a substantial improvement in lubricity collectively supported a tenacious and associative interaction between PGM and cationized BLGs, but not between PGM and non-modified BLG. This study demonstrates a unique and successful approach to intensify the interaction between BLG and mucins, which is meaningful for a broad range of disciplines, including food science, macromolecular interactions, and biolubrication etc.
AB - β-lactoglobulin (BLG) is the major whey protein with negatively charges at neutral pH in aqueous media. Thus, the interaction with mucins, the major polyanionic component of mucus, is very weak due to the electrostatic repulsion between them. The present study postulated that cationization of BLG molecules may reverse the interaction characteristics between BLG and mucin from repulsive to associative. To this end, cationic-modified BLGs were prepared by grafting positively charged ethylenediamine (EDA) moieties into the negatively charged carboxyl groups on the aspartic and glutamic acid residues and compared with non-modified BLG upon mixing with porcine gastric mucin (PGM). To characterize the structural and conformational features of PGM, non/cationized BLGs, and their mixtures, various spectroscopic approaches, including zeta potential, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy were employed. Importantly, we have taken surface adsorption with optical waveguide lightmode spectroscopy (OWLS), and tribological properties with pin-on-disk tribometry at the sliding interface as the key approaches to determine the interaction nature between them as mixing PGM with polycations can lead to synergistic lubrication at the nonpolar substrate in neutral aqueous media as a result of an electrostatic association. All the spectroscopic studies and a substantial improvement in lubricity collectively supported a tenacious and associative interaction between PGM and cationized BLGs, but not between PGM and non-modified BLG. This study demonstrates a unique and successful approach to intensify the interaction between BLG and mucins, which is meaningful for a broad range of disciplines, including food science, macromolecular interactions, and biolubrication etc.
KW - Biolubrication
KW - Biotribology
KW - Cationization
KW - Mucin
KW - β-lactoglobulin
U2 - 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2024.113924
DO - 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2024.113924
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 38669751
SN - 0927-7765
JO - Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces
JF - Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces
ER -