The effects of ultrasonic-assisted extraction (UAE, 200 W, 20 min) on the yield and physicochemical properties of different walnut proteins (WNPs, including albumin, globulin, and glutelin) were investigated. Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis indicated that UAE could result in protein molecular fragmentation of albumin, but did not affect the major bands of globulin and glutelin. The CD spectra demonstrated that different WNPs obtained by UAE had different changes in their secondary structure. Under UAE, there was an increase in surface hydrophobicity (H0) of albumin and gluten and no change in the fluorescence intensity, while decreases were observed in the H0 and fluorescence intensity of globulin; and the contents of total and surface free sulfhydryl in albumin dramatically decreased. UAE reduced the size of the particles and the dimension of the microstructures in albumin and gluten, indicating that ultrasound could unfold protein aggregates. In addition, UAE increased the solubility, emulsifying activity (EA), foaming capacity (FC), and foam stability (FS) of the obtained proteins. The above results indicate that ultrasound extraction is a promising approach to improve the extraction yield and properties of walnut proteins.
Keywords: albumin; globulin; glutelin; physicochemical properties; ultrasonic-assisted extraction; walnut proteins.