A comparison of the kinetics of the thermal denaturation of the immunoglobulins in caprine and bovine skim milk samples

The irreversible thermal denaturation of the immunoglobulins in bovine and caprine milk samples was determined over a wide temperature and time range so that kinetic and thermodynamic parameters could be determined. The immunoglobulins in the bovine milk were more heat labile than those in the caprine milk. For both milk samples, the denaturation followed second order reaction kinetics. The activation energies and thermodynamic parameters (ΔH#, ΔG# and ΔS#) were similar for both bovine caprine milk samples, and these parameters were in the range expected for unfolding reactions as the rate determining step for the irreversible denaturation process.