Lee Jae Hoon, Kim Tae-Kyung, Kim Yun Jeong, Kang Min-Cheol, Song Kyung-Mo, Kim Bum-Keun, Choi Yun-Sang
Research Group of Food Processing, Korea Food Research Institute, Wanju 55365, Republic of Korea.
Department of Food Biotechnology, University of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34113, Republic of Korea.
Food Chem X. 2023 May 26;18:100722. doi: 10.1016/j.fochx.2023.100722. eCollection 2023 Jun 30.
Edible insects are promising future food resources globally. Herein, the structural, physicochemical, and bio-functional properties of edible insect protein isolates (EPIs) extracted from larvae were investigated. The results showed that EPIs have a high total essential amino acid content; moreover, β-sheet is the major secondary protein structure. The protein solution was highly soluble and electrically stable and did not aggregate easily. In addition, EPIs exhibited immune-enhancing properties; treatment of macrophages induced the activation of macrophages and consequently promoted the production of pro-inflammatory mediators (NO, TNF-α, and IL-1β). Moreover, macrophage activation of EPIs was confirmed to occur through the MAPK and NF-κB pathways. In conclusion, our results suggest that the isolated protein can be fully utilized as a functional food material and alternative protein source in the future food industry.
食用昆虫是全球未来颇具前景的食物资源。在此，对从幼虫中提取的食用昆虫分离蛋白（EPIs）的结构、物理化学和生物功能特性进行了研究。结果表明，EPIs具有较高的必需氨基酸总含量；此外，β-折叠是主要的二级蛋白质结构。该蛋白质溶液具有高溶解性和电稳定性，且不易聚集。此外，EPIs具有免疫增强特性；对巨噬细胞的处理诱导了巨噬细胞的活化，从而促进了促炎介质（NO、TNF-α和IL-1β）的产生。此外，证实EPIs对巨噬细胞的激活是通过MAPK和NF-κB途径发生的。总之，我们的结果表明，分离出的蛋白质在未来食品工业中可作为功能性食品原料和替代蛋白质来源得到充分利用。
