Caracterização físico-química e funcional das proteínas do pólem apícola.

Abstract

Bee pollen is defined as the result of agglutination of pollen of flowers, conducted by the worker bees, by their nectar and salivary substances. The pollen grains are agglutinated on acorns or granules, which are fixed in the corbicula so it can be transported to the hive, which is collected by collectors. Beyond the nutrition of bees, pollen can be used as a food supplement for human nutrition, because it is an important source of protein. The functional properties are the various characteristics of the hydrated protein which promotes or contributes to a food product allowing variation in the: solubility, absorption, capacity and retention of water and oil, emulsifying capability, and foaming. In this work there was the characterization of physicochemical and bioactive compounds of dehydrated bee pollen, obtaining the protein concentrate and was determined some functional properties of the defatted flour proteins of bee pollen and of the concentrate. The study of the functional properties was conducted in systems of various compositions, at ambient temperature, and the behavior of the protein in these systems was evaluated, depending on the type of salt and their concentration. The protein content in solubility was quantified by the Lowry method. The bee pollen dehydrated showed a protein content of 25.67%. In obtaining of the protein concentrate of bee pollen, the pH of protein precipitation and extraction were 4.25 and 10.5, the protein concentrate showed twice the protein compared to 51.64% bee pollen. The electrophoretic analysis of the molecular weights of the proteins of the defatted flour of bee pollen and its protein concentrated in PAGE-SDS-2βMe, revealed 3 major bands in the molecular weight range of 95.54 and 25.6 kDa. The water and oil absorption capacity of the protein concentrate is higher than the protein of the flour from defatted bee pollen. The results showed that for the protein solubility of defatted flour from bee pollen, the best system was the one that used sodium sulfate in a concentration of 0.20 mol/L. Salt addition was not in favor of emulsion activity, but to emulsion stability the addition of salts was advantageous. The foaming properties were favored in the presence of salt compared to foam formation, showed the best results with the addition of sodium citrate salt and sodium sulfate in a concentration of 0.30 mol/L and the stability of foam with the addition of sodium chloride. The bee pollen can be used as an alternative source of dietary protein in the development of new products and as a substitute for products already available on the market and their technological properties are influenced by the pH variation and the concentration and type of salt.