Cell Wall Disruption of Rape Bee Pollen Treated with Combination of Protamex Hydrolysis and Ultrasonication

Jie Dong; Kun Gao; Kai Wang; Xiang Xu; Hongcheng Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2015.05.039

Cell Wall Disruption of Rape Bee Pollen Treated with Combination of Protamex Hydrolysis and Ultrasonication

Food Res Int. 2015 Sep:75:123-130. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2015.05.039. Epub 2015 May 29.

Authors

Jie Dong¹, Kun Gao², Kai Wang³, Xiang Xu¹, Hongcheng Zhang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Apicultural Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China; National Research Center of Bee Product Processing, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing, 100093, China.
² Institute of Apicultural Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China.
³ Institute of Apicultural Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China; College of Food Engineering, Harbin University of Commerce, Harbin, 150076, China.
⁴ Institute of Apicultural Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100093, China; National Research Center of Bee Product Processing, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing, 100093, China. Electronic address: 460414874@qq.com.

PMID: 28454938
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2015.05.039

Abstract

Bee pollen possesses a broad range of potential biological activities, but nutrient absorption and biological activities of bee pollen may be restricted due to complex pollen wall. This study aimed to investigate wall-disruption variations of Brassica campestris L. (rape) bee pollen treated with protamex hydrolysis, ultrasonication, and combination of protamex hydrolysis and ultrasonication. Pollen sample treated with these three treatments had higher specific surface area values and smaller particle sizes than the untreated sample. Protamex hydrolysis degraded the pollen coat and disintegrated the intine at the germinal apertures. Ultrasonication treatment cracked the pollen exine into fragments, but seemed to have little effect on the intine. The combination of protamex hydrolysis and ultrasonication can degrade pollen coat and entirely disrupt both the exine and the intine. The exine of rape bee pollen was disrupted into three fragments along germinal apertures.

Keywords: Cell wall disruption; Combination of protamex hydrolysis and ultrasonication; Rape bee pollen; Scanning electron microscope; Transmission electron microscope.