Munehiko Tanaka

Separation and characterization of alpha-chain subunits from tilapia (Tilapia zillii) skin gelatin using ultrafiltration

Alpha-chain subunits were separated from tilapia skin gelatin using ultrafiltration, and the physicochemical properties of obtained subunits were investigated. As a result, α1-subunit and α2-subunit could be successfully separated by 100 kDa MWCO regenerated cellulose membranes and 150 kDa MWCO polyethersulfone membranes, respectively. Glycine was the most dominant amino acid in both α1-subunit and α2-subunit. However, the tyrosine content was higher in α2-subunit than in α1-subunit, resulting in strong absorption near 280 nm observed in the UV absorption spectrum. Based on the DSC analysis, it was found that the glass transition temperatures of gelatin, α1-subunit and α2-subunit were 136.48 °C, 126.77 °C and 119.43 °C, respectively. Moreover, the reduced viscosity and denaturation temperature of α1-subunit were higher than those of α2-subunit, and the reduced viscosity reached the highest when α-subunits were mixed with α1/α2 ratio of approximately 2, suggesting that α1-subunit plays a more important role in the thermostability of gelatin than α2-subunit.

Effect of blend ratio and pH on the physical properties of edible composite films prepared from silver carp surimi and skin gelatin

The effect of blend ratio and pH on the physical properties of surimi-gelatin composite films was investigated. Tensile strength (TS), film water solubility and soluble proteins of composite films increased with the increasing proportion of gelatin, while elongation at break (EAB) decreased. The TS of neutral films with the same ratio of surimi and gelatin were lowest, while increased at acidic or alkaline conditions. Similar tendency was also found in protein solubility and surface hydrophobicity of the film-forming solutions. On the other hand, the film water solubility and soluble proteins of neutral composite films were higher than those of acidic and alkaline films. Furthermore, it was revealed that the dissolved surimi and gelatin proteins could form strong composite films, which were insoluble in water. These results suggested that dissolved proteins were mainly involved in the formation of surimi-gelatin composite films.