Interactions in the aqueous phase and adsorption at the air–water interface of caseinoglycomacropeptide (GMP) and β-lactoglobulin mixed systems

The aim of this work was to study the interactions and adsorption of caseinoglycomacropeptide (GMP) and GMP:β-lactoglobulin (β-lg) mixed system in the aqueous phase and at the air–water interface. The existence of associative interactions between GMP and β-lg in the aqueous phase was investigated by dynamic light scattering, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), fluorometry and native PAGE-electrophoresis. The surface pressure isotherm and the static and dynamic surface pressure were determined by tensiometry and surface dilatational properties. The results showed that GMP presented higher surface activity than β-lg at a concentration of 4% wt but β-lg showed higher film forming ability. In the mixed systems β-lg dominated the static and dynamic surface pressure and the rheological properties of interfacial films suggesting that β-lg hinders GMP adsorption because, in simple competition, GMP should dominate because of its higher surface activity. The surface predominance of β-lg can be attributed to binding of GMP to β-lg in the aqueous phase that prevents GMP adsorption on its own.