Surface functional properties of blood plasma protein fractions

The solubility, foaming and emulsifying properties of porcine blood plasma and its main protein fractions (serum, globulins and albumin) were investigated at pH 4.5, 6.0 and 7.5 in order to clarify the contribution of each fraction and encourage the optimisation of plasma-derived products. Soluble protein contents above 85% were obtained in all samples. Plasma, serum and albumin showed good foaming capacities, reasonably similar at different pH conditions, although the highest foam stability corresponded to both albumin and plasma at pH 4.5 and 6.0. All protein fractions showed good emulsifying activities, but the stability of the formed emulsions decreased with acidification, being emulsions of albumin and globulins at pH 7.5 the most stable ones. In addition, the interaction indexes calculated to investigate protein-protein interactions revealed synergistic interactions between albumin and globulins when in co-occurrence in their foaming capacity at pH 6.0 and 7.5, and in the stability of emulsions at pH 4.5 and 6.0, but slightly negative effects in the solubility of the mixture, and a great decrease in the stability of emulsions at pH 7.5. On the other hand, the elimination of fibrinogen improved the stability of emulsions and foams at acidic conditions.