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Physicochemical, Functional and Antioxidant Properties of the Major Protein Fractions Extracted from Prickly Pear (Opuntia ficus indica L.) Seed Cake

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Abstract

Proteins were extracted from a prickly pear seed cake using the Osborne extraction method. Physico-chemical, antioxidant and functional properties of the major protein fractions (albumin and glutelin) were studied. Glutelin fraction presented good amount of proteins (60.42% dry weight) with appreciable essential amino acids content (24.45% of total amino acids). The Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy spectra showed between ~ 1200 and 1700 cm−1, characteristically peaks of proteins, namely, amide I, II and III for both fractions. Antioxidant activities of protein fractions were assessed in vitro through different antioxidant tests. The protein fractions exhibited good DPPH and metal scavenging activities. However, they demonstrated moderate reductive ability. Protein fractions had a minimum equilibrium surface tension at the isoelectric pH. They were characterized by interesting techno-functional properties such as emulsifying and foaming capacities which were affected by pH values. They also displayed significant water holding (480% for albumin fraction at pH 7) and oil holding (420% for glutelin at pH 7) capacities. The found results suggested that albumin and glutelin extracted from prickly pear seed cake could have important applications in food formulations.

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Abbreviations

BHA:

Butylated hydroxyanisol

DPPH:

1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl

DW:

Dry weight

EAA:

Essential amino acids

EAI:

Emulsion activity index

EDTA:

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid

EIT:

Equilibrium interfacial tension

ESI:

Emulsion stability index

FAO:

Food and Agriculture Organization

FC:

Foaming capacity

FS:

Foaming stability

FT-IR:

Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy

OHC:

Oil holding capacity

OJEC:

Official Journal of the European Communities

PBS:

Phosphate-buffered saline

PC:

Prickly pear press cake

RSA:

Radical scavenging activity

RP:

Reducing power

SDS:

Sodium dodecyl sulfate

SDS-PAGE:

Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis

ST:

Surface tension

TCA:

Trichloroacetic acid

WHC:

Water holding capacity

WHO:

World Health Organization

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their gratitude to the staff of the Department of chemistry (Faculty of Sciences of Sfax), for helping in performing FT-IR spectroscopy analysis.

Funding

This research was supported by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Tunisia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Sfax, Laboratoire Valorisation, Analyses et Sécurité des Aliments, Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Sfax, Route de Soukra, 3038, Sfax, Tunisia

    Maha Borchani, Hela Yaich, Fatma Abbès, Souhail Besbes, Hamadi Attia & Manel Masmoudi

  2. Université de Liège, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Unité de Science des Aliments et Formulation, Passage des Déportés, 2, 5030, Gembloux, Belgium

    Christophe Blecker

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  1. Maha Borchani
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Borchani, M., Yaich, H., Abbès, F. et al. Physicochemical, Functional and Antioxidant Properties of the Major Protein Fractions Extracted from Prickly Pear (Opuntia ficus indica L.) Seed Cake. Waste Biomass Valor 12, 1749–1760 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-020-01111-4

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