This study explored how pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment at voltages of 10 − 30 kV affects the properties of abalone myofibrillar protein (MP). As voltage increased, compared with control, solubility, fragmentation index, carbonyl content of MP, and ozone content in solution kept rising, while Ca 2+ -/Mg 2+ -ATPase activities decreased. At 10 kV, the solubility, total and reactive sulfhydryl group, surface hydrophobicity, zeta-potential, and particle size of MP peaked. PEF treatment altered the apparent viscosity but minimally affected the temperature ramp of MP with optimized dispersion and minimized aggregation. In addition, its protein molecular weight distribution was unchanged by PEF treatment. The secondary structures of MP showed an increase in the α-helix content, a decrease in the β-fold, β-turn and random curl and an increase in the disulfide bonding after PEF treatment. Overall PEF treatment significantly changed the physicochemical and structural properties of abalone MPs, providing theoretical guidance for PEF in abalone processing.
Lin et al. (Fri,) studied this question.