Abstract
Simultaneously thermal and mechanical stresses are experienced by the
proteins in most of the practical applications like fluid flow,
bioprocessing, formulations, mixing and transportations. In this study,
energetics of the thermomechanical treatment of bovine serum albumin
(BSA) and its related impact on the unfolding and aggregation behaviour
have been explored to decipher the roles of the thermal and dissipation
energy. Temperature hysteresis scans of BSA solution at physiological pH
(7.4) were conducted in the three temperature ranges i.e. 25-50-25°C,
25-65-25°C and 25-75-25°C to understand its thermal stability. Shear
induced aggregation of the BSA at a constant shear rate of 300 s-1 was
performed at the three temperatures (55, 60 and 65 °C) using a Rheometer
and the aggregation behavior was experimentally analyzed. The
irreversible unfolding of BSA was observed over its a melting
temperature. Heat transfer above 3 kJ/mol broke the intramolecular
bonds, which resulted into unfolding and intermolecular interactions
(aggregation). Further, the rates of aggregation were enhanced by 1.5
folds for the thermomechanical (sheared) process as compared to thermal
treatment. In fact, thermomechanical treatment at even lower 60 °C has a
similar impact as thermal treatment at a higher temperature of 75 °C.
BSA solution exhibited a shear thickening behaviour during the
aggregation. Dissipation energy generated from the shearing was found to
accelerate the second step (fibrillation) of the aggregation process at
60 and 65 °C. However, it could not initiate the first step (unfolding)
of the aggregation at 55 °C due to the heat loss to the surrounding.