IntroductionFunctional properties of heat-induced myofibrillar protein gel were important for meat products (Fukazawa et al., 1961;Macfarlane et al., 1977;Siegel and Schmidt, 1979). Gel formation was typically induced by association of unfolded protein molecules via various chemical forces, namely disulfide linkages, electrostatic, hydrophobic interactions, and hydrogen bonds (Mulvihill and Kinsella, 1987;Oakenfull et al., 1997). Functional properties of heat-induced myofibrillar protein gel were mainly depended on chemical forces (Joseph et al., 1994;Wan et al., 1994). Previous literatures have showed the importance of chemical forces in heat-induced protein gels. Smyth et al. (1998) found that hardness of myosin gel could be weakened by adding dithiothreitol (DTT) to prevent the formation of disulfide bonds.Liu and Hsieh (2007) studied the molecular interactions of protein gels by adding DTT, urea and other reagents, and they concluded that non-covalent bonds played a more important role than disulfide bonds in the formation of heat-induced protein gels. Hermansson (1979) found that when less net electric charge were distributed on the surface of protein molecules, the electrostatic repulsion, hydrophobic attractions and intermolecular hydrogen bonds could keep a better balance, which made it easier to form ordered gel network. Hayakawa and Nakai (1985) reported that hydrophobic interactions of myosin were proposed to be the prerequisites for the formation of large aggregates. However, up to now, available data on chemical forces and the relationships between chemical forces and functional properties of MP gel are limited.Raman spectroscopy could be employed to investigate the chemical forces of heat-induced protein gel (Ikeda and Li-Chan, 2004;Li-Chan, 1996;Liu et al., 2011). Tryptophan (Trp) was a hydrophobic amino acid with hydrophobic residues. The normalized intensity of the Raman band near 760 cm −1 was assigned to the stretching vibration of the tryptophan residues ring and could be used to investigate the hydrophobicity of the Trpresidues, and then reflect the hydrophobic interactions of protein gel (Ikeda and Li-Chan, 2004;Li-Chan, 1996;Tu, 1982 -Chan, 2004;Li-Chan, 1996). Zeta potential presents the potential difference between the dispersion medium and the stationary layer of fluid attached to the dispersed particle and can be used to indicate the degree of electrostatic interactions between adjacent, similarly charged particles in a dispersion (Runkana et al., 2004).Several studies had been performed to investigate the effects of ionic strength on functional properties such as G', hardness and WHC (Bjorg et al, 1986;Boyer et al., 1996;Laure et al., 2014;Stone and Stanley, 1994
Materials and MethodsMaterials Six week-old commercial broilers (AA type) were purchased from a commercial chicken farm in Nanjing, China.Bovine serum albumin (BSA) was obtained from Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co., Ltd (Shanghai, China). All chemicals used were of analytical grade.
Methods
Extraction of myofibrillar protein ...