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Influence of calcium on the thermal stabilization of bovine α-lactalbumin by selected polyols

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Abstract

Thermal stability of bovine α-lactalbumin in the presence of three different calcium concentrations in aqueous solutions of several concentrations of erythritol, xylitol, sorbitol, and inositol at pH 6.5 was evaluated by UV absorbance, fluorescence spectroscopy, and circular dichroism spectroscopy. At the selected conditions, the thermal denaturation process is reversible and is well described by a two-state model. Results show a higher stability for the holo form of the protein in the presence of calcium, followed by the holo- and the apo-lactalbumin, respectively. The stabilizing effect of the polyols increases with polyol concentration and it is higher for the apo-lactalbumin than holo-lactalbumin and is very small for the protein in the presence of a calcium excess.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Universidad Nacional de Colombia, COLCIENCIAS and by grant BFU2007-61476/BMC (Spain).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Química, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Cra 45 26-85 Oficina 409, Bogotá, Colombia

    Alberto Albis & Carmen M. Romero

  2. Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Universidad del Atlántico, Barranquilla, Colombia

    Alberto Albis

  3. Departamento de Farmacia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia

    José Manuel Lozano

  4. Fundación Instituto de Inmunología de Colombia FIDIC, Bogotá, Colombia

    José Manuel Lozano

  5. Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular y Celular, Facultad de Ciencias Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain

    Javier Sancho

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  1. Alberto Albis
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  2. José Manuel Lozano
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  3. Javier Sancho
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  4. Carmen M. Romero
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Correspondence to Alberto Albis.

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Albis, A., Lozano, J.M., Sancho, J. et al. Influence of calcium on the thermal stabilization of bovine α-lactalbumin by selected polyols. J Therm Anal Calorim 104, 37–44 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-010-1156-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-010-1156-3

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