Milk
polar lipid interfacial behavior continues to be analyzed
using Langmuir trough experiments, but the reported Langmuir trough
subphases commonly used are not fully representative of milk. A method
to transform liquids of biological origin, such as milk, into appropriate
Langmuir trough subphases does not currently exist, which hinders
the applicability of Langmuir trough experiments to nature. Here,
a procedure to manufacture milk-derived Langmuir trough subphases
with insignificant amounts of surfactants from bovine milk is presented.
Ultrafiltration is used to remove the bulk of protein surfactants
from milk followed by the creation of solvent-induced emulsions that
remove trace proteins and lipids from collected skim milk permeates.
Change in surface tension upon compression of resulting washed permeates
from the surfactant removal process was ≤0.1 mN/m, terming
the permeates non-surface-active (NSA). NSA permeates (72.4 ±
0.2 mN/m) had a surface tension similar to that of ultrapure water
(72.6 ± 0.1 mN/m), but their pH, conductivity, percent total
solids, Brix percentage, alkalinity, and hardness were not the same,
with NSA permeates being more compositionally similar to skim milk
than water. The lift-off points of milk ganglioside GM3 monolayer
surface pressure–area isotherms spread on NSA permeates and
ultrapure water subphases were significantly different when compared
for the same sample, indicating that surface tension measurements
obtained on ultrapure water are not the same as with NSA milk permeate.
Overall, surfactants were removed from bovine milk without the addition
of exogenous compounds, allowing for the production of a NSA solution
derived from milk that can be used in the Langmuir trough experiment
to more realistically resemble the natural environment of milk polar
lipids. The procedure described here was able to produce NSA solutions
for other dairy beverages aside from milk, indicating that it can
be applicable to other biological fluids.