Milk is provided to new borns as their first food source and it contains essential nutrients, vitamins and other beneficial components, such as enzymes and antibodies that are required for rapid growth and development of the new born and for sustained growth over time. Milk contains two main types of proteins; casein proteins and whey proteins. Although casein proteins account for up to 80% of the proteins found in bovine milk, it is the whey protein that has become of high interest because of its bioactive content. Whey, a very watery mixture of lactose, proteins, minerals and trace amounts of fat, is formed from milk when the milk is coagulated and/or the casein proteins are removed from the milk. Bovine whey protein, including both the acidic and basic fractions (low and high isoelectric point, respectively), has previously been studied in vitro (cell based) and in vivo (using rats) for its impact on bone to determine if it can help improve bone mineral density and help reduce the risk of developing bone diseases, such as osteoporosis. Bone is constantly undergoing a remodelling process of being dissolved and reformed and the two main cell types responsible for this bone remodelling process are mature osteoclasts, which dissolve (resorb) bone, and osteoblasts, which reform the bone. Prior work has shown that acidic protein fractions derived from different sources of whey protein concentrate (WPC) have both in vivo and in vitro activity on bone, particularly anti-resorptive properties. However, the component(s) which confer activity have not yet been identified. In this thesis, work was undertaken to better understand the analytical composition of three types of WPC (cheese, mineral acid and lactic acid) and their associated acidic protein fractions and relate this to bone activity in the hope of identifying where the activity lies. Bone activity was assessed using in vitro screening with osteoblast cells (MC3T3-E1) and osteoclast cells (RAW 264.7). Comparison of the cell-based bone activity of the parent WPCs and corresponding acidic fractions indicated that the acidic fractions derived from both mineral acid and lactic WPC were superior in their ability to inhibit osteoclast development. Although compositional data was complex and definitive correlations with both bone bioactivities could not be made, it appeared that elements common to both the acidic fractions were a higher proportion of GLYCAM-1 and bone sialoprotein-1 (osteopontin). Further studies to more closely investigate the bone bioactivity of the acidic fractions are warranted.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/285590 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Mullan, Bernadette Jane |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
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