Juliana Valle Costa Silva

Transport phenomena in a model cheese: The influence of the charge and shape of solutes on diffusion

During cheese ripening, microorganisms grow as immobilized colonies, metabolizing substrates present in the matrix and generating products from enzymatic reactions. Local factors that limit the rates of diffusion, either within the general cheese matrix or near the colonies, may influence the metabolic activity of the bacteria during ripening, affecting the final quality of the cheese. The objective of this study was to determine the diffusion coefficients of solutes as a function of their different physicochemical characteristics (size, charge, and shape) in an ultrafiltrate (UF) model cheese (based on ultrafiltered milk) to enable better understanding of the ripening mechanisms. Diffusion coefficients of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-dextrans (4 kDa to 2 MDa) and FITC-labeled dairy proteins (α-lactalbumin, β-lactoglobulin, and BSA) were measured using the technique of fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP). This study showed that macromolecules up to 2 MDa and proteins could diffuse through the UF model cheese. The larger FITC-dextrans were not more hindered by the structure of the UF model cheese compared with the smaller ones. Any decrease in the diffusion coefficients of solutes was related only to their hydrodynamic radii. The FITC-dextran diffusion data were fitted to an obstruction model, resulting in a constant obstruction factor (k ~0.42). Diffusion in the model cheese was sensitive to the physicochemical characteristics of the solute. The FITC-dairy proteins studied (rigid and negatively charged molecules) were hindered to a greater degree than the FITC-dextrans (flexible and charge-neutral molecules) in the UF model cheese. The existence of steric and electrostatic interactions between the protein matrix of the UF model cheese and the FITC-dairy proteins could explain the decrease in diffusion compared with FITC-dextrans.

Diffusion of solutes inside bacterial colonies immobilized in model cheese depends on their physicochemical properties: a time-lapse microscopy study.

During cheese processing and ripening, bacteria develop as colonies. Substrates and metabolites must then diffuse either from or into the colonies. Exploring how the inner cells of the colony access the substrates or get rid of the products leads to study the diffusion of solutes inside bacterial colonies immobilized in cheese. Diffusion limitations of substrates within the bacterial colony could lead to starvation for the cells in the center of the colony. This study aimed at better understands ripening at the colony level, by investigating how diffusion phenomena inside colonies vary depending on both the physicochemical properties of the solutes and Lactococcus lactis strain. Dextrans (4, 70, and 155 kDa) and milk proteins (BSA, lactoferrin and αS1-casein) of different sizes and physicochemical properties were chosen as model of diffusing solutes, and two L. lactis strains presenting different surface properties were immobilized as colonies in a model cheese. Diffusion of solutes inside and around colonies was experimentally followed by time-lapse confocal microscopy. Dextran solutes diffused inside both lactococci colonies with a non-significantly different effective diffusion coefficient, which depended mainly on size of the solute. However, whereas flexible and neutral hydrophilic polymers such as dextran can diffuse inside colonies whatever its size, none of the three proteins investigated in this study could penetrate inside lactococci colonies. Therefore, the diffusion behavior of macromolecules through bacterial colonies immobilized in a model cheese did not only depends on the size of the diffusing solutes, but also and mainly on their physicochemical properties. Milk caseins are probably first hydrolyzed by the cell wall proteases of L. lactis and/or other proteases present in the cheese, and then the generated peptides diffuse inside colonies to be further metabolized into smaller peptides and amino acids by all the cells located inside the colonies.

Flexibility and Charge of Solutes as Factors That Determine Their Diffusion in Casein Suspensions and Gels

This work explores the influence of both the physicochemical characteristics of solutes and the solute-matrix interactions on diffusion in casein systems. Diffusion coefficients of three solute groups (dextrans, proteins, and peptides) presenting different physicochemical characteristics, such as molecular flexibility and charge, were measured using the technique of fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP). The casein systems had the same casein concentration, but different microstructures (suspension or gel), and/or a different pH (5.2 or 6.6). Flexible solutes diffused more rapidly through the casein systems than the rigid ones. Electrostatic interactions between charged solute molecules and the casein matrix were partly screened due to the high ionic strength of the systems. As a consequence, it was the flexibility of the solute molecule (rather than its charge) that most influenced its diffusion through casein systems.