In the present study, the mechanism for gelation of dried egg whites (DEWs) samples, which were differentially pretreated with dry-heat treatment and alkaline pH, were investigated using dynamic viscoelastic measurements and ultrasound spectroscopy for gels formed with at high protein concentrations. Rheological measurements showed that DEW gels with dry-heat treatments have a higher dynamic complex modulus than DEW gels without dry-heat treatments. Furthermore, ultrasonic attenuation analyses showed that subjecting DEWs to dry-heat treatment and alkaline pH induced the formation of an increased number of DEW protein “soluble aggregates” compared with unheated and neutral DEWs. Our data suggests that pretreatment of DEW samples led to partially unfolded DEW proteins with more “soluble aggregates”, which were strongly correlated with the formation of gels with a more homogeneous and rigid texture. Understanding their structural properties at a molecular detail would enable desirable textural modifications for the development of new food products.

在本研究中，干蛋白 (DEW) 样品的凝胶化机制通过干热处理和碱性 pH 进行了不同的预处理，使用动态粘弹性测量和超声光谱法研究了在高蛋白质浓度下形成的凝胶。流变测量表明，经过干热处理的 DEW 凝胶比未经干热处理的 DEW 凝胶具有更高的动态复模量。此外，超声衰减分析表明，与未加热和中性 DEWs 相比，对 DEWs 进行干热处理和碱性 pH 诱导形成更多数量的 DEW 蛋白“可溶性聚集体”。我们的数据表明，DEW 样品的预处理导致部分未折叠的 DEW 蛋白具有更多的“可溶性聚集体”，这与具有更均匀和刚性质地的凝胶的形成密切相关。在分子细节上了解它们的结构特性将能够为新食品的开发提供理想的质地修饰。