Suspensions of air cells with cysteine-rich protein coats: Air-filled emulsions

Fideline Tchuenbou-Magaia, N Al-Rifai, NEM Ishak, Ian Norton, Philip Cox

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

23 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Microbubbles have the potential to be used in many applications in different fields, especially in food, biomedical, and environmental sciences. However, to produce microbubbles with relatively long-term stability is difficult as they are inherently unstable entities. Hydrophobins are naturally occurring proteins that have previously been shown to have an ability to stabilize micron-sized air cells. More recently, small air cells with other cysteine-rich proteins such as bovine serum albumin and egg albumen (egg white protein) have been constructed using a sonochemical method. The majority of the air cells had a diameter between 1 and 10 mu m. A dependence of the air cell size and stability with the processing conditions and concentration were found. The air cells' shells are dense enough to form a cage-like structure around air cells and are equally as robust as those from hydrophobins.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)217-232
Number of pages16
JournalJournal of Cellular Plastics
Volume47
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2011

Keywords

  • air-filled emulsions
  • hydrophobin
  • bovine serum albumin
  • cysteine-rich proteins
  • egg albumen

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Suspensions of air cells with cysteine-rich protein coats: Air-filled emulsions'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this