Value-added applications of egg white proteins as functional food ingredients

蛋白白色因其特殊的发泡和凝胶特性而广泛应用于食品工业。传统的食品用途已经达到了瓶颈，未能进一步提高蛋品行业的盈利能力。作为优质蛋白源，鸡蛋白色蛋白是公认的生物活性蛋白和生物活性肽的丰富来源;了解鸡蛋是生物活性物质的天然储存库，为鸡蛋白色蛋白的增值利用打开了新的窗口。 卵转铁蛋白是天然免疫的组成部分，约占卵白色蛋白总量的12%。以成骨细胞（形成新骨）为实验材料，我们初步研究表明卵转铁蛋白可提高成骨细胞的活性。本研究拟对卵转铁蛋白进行结构和功能活性的研究，目的是研究卵转铁蛋白在破骨细胞和已建立的卵巢切除（OVX）大鼠模型中的作用。去卵转铁蛋白的鸡蛋白色将用于制备水解产物;所提出的工作还旨在制备和表征新的去卵转铁蛋白的鸡蛋白色水解产物，并确定其对自发性高血压大鼠的血压降低活性以及高脂肪诱导模型中的胰岛素敏感性的有效性。鉴于骨质疏松症和代谢综合征包括高血压的发病率不断增加，开发卵转铁蛋白和去除卵转铁蛋白的鸡蛋白色水解物作为功能性食品成分的增值应用将导致显著的公共利益，减少医疗保健支出，加强鸡蛋作为健康食品的正面形象，并通过为快速发展的功能性食品和保健品行业开发增值成分，支持加拿大鸡蛋行业的可持续发展。

Egg white is used widely in the food industry for its exceptional foaming and gelling properties. Traditional food uses have reached its bottleneck and have failed to further enhance the profitability of the egg industry. As a high-quality protein source, egg white proteins are recognized as a rich source of bioactive proteins and bioactive peptides; knowing that egg is a natural reservoir of biologically active substances opens a new window for value-added utilization of egg white proteins. Ovotransferrin, accounting for about 12% of total egg white proteins, is a component of innate immunity. Using osteoblast cell (that forms new bone), our preliminary study showed that ovotransferrin improve the activity of osteoblast cell. The proposed work for ovotransferrin aims to study structure and functional activity of ovotransferrin in osteoclast cells and in an established ovariectomized (OVX) rat model. The ovotransferrin-depleted egg white will be used to prepare a hydrolysate; the proposed work also aims to prepare and characterize novel ovotransferrin-depleted egg white hydrolysate, and to establish its effectiveness on blood pressure lowering activity in spontaneously hypertensive rats as well as insulin sensitivity in a high-fat induced model. Giving the growing incidence of osteoporosis and metabolic syndrome including hypertension, the development of value-added applications of ovotransferrin and ovotransferrin-depleted egg white hydrolysate as functional food ingredients will result in significant public benefit for health care expenditure reduction, reinforce the positive image of egg as a healthy food, and support a sustainably growing Canadian egg industry at large by developing value-added ingredients for the rapidly expanding functional foods and nutraceuticals industry.