Effects of heat and high-pressure treatments on antigenicity of beef extract

Abstract

The sera of bovine gamma globulin (BGG) positive beef allergic patients were used in this study in order to investigate changes in IgE-specific binding activity with regard to beef extract altered by heat or high-pressure treatment. In inhibition-ELISA, the sample treated at 60°C did not show any significant changes in the antigenicity of BGG, but the sample treated at 100°C showed a decrease of the antigenicity. In the case of the treatment with heating at 100°C, heat-coagulation occurred in the beef extract. The resulting supernatant and precipitate of the sample by centrifugation were analyzed by immunoblotting. Only the fraction of precipitate showed a specific binding activity with the sera. Based on this result, it was speculated that the persistent antigenicity found even after the treatment at 100°C in inhibition-ELISA remained principally in the heat-coagulated fraction, which indicated the importance of the method of handling the heat-coagulation in heat treatment. High-pressure treatments (200 MPa– 600 MPa) of beef extract did not show any significant changes in the binding with the sera. © 2002, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.