The effect of monoglycerides on structural and topographical characteristics of adsorbed β-casein films at the air-water interface

The effect of monoglycerides (monopalmitin and monoolein) on the structural and topographical characteristics of beta-casein adsorbed film at the air-water interface has been analyzed by means of surface pressure (pi)-area (A) isotherms and Brewster angle microscopy (BAM). At surface pressures lower than that for the beta-casein collapse (pi(beta-casein)(c)), attractive interactions between beta-casein and monoglycerides were observed. At higher surface pressures, the collapsed P-casein is partially displaced from the interface by monoglycerides. However, beta-casein displacement by monoglycerides is not quantitative at the monoglyceride concentrations studied in this work. From the results derived from these experiments, we have concluded that interactions, miscibility, and displacement of proteins by monoglycerides in adsorbed mixed monolayers at the air-water interface depend on the particular protein-monoglyceride system, the interactions between film-forming components being higher for adsorbed than for spread films. The adsorbed films are more segregated than spread films, and both collapsed protein domains and monoglyceride domains in adsorbed films are smaller than for spread films.