Measuring Parvalbumin Levels in Fish Muscle Tissue: Relevance of Muscle Locations and Storage Conditions

Authors

Poi-Wah Lee, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Julie A. Nordlee, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Stef J. Koppelman, University of Nebraska-Lincoln and HAL Allergy, Leiden, the NetherlandsFollow
Joseph L. Baumert, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Steve L. Taylor, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

11-2012

Citation

Food Chemistry (November 2012) 135(2): 502–507

doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2012.05.030

Comments

Copyright © 2012, Elsevier. Used by permission

Abstract

Fish is an allergenic food capable of provoking severe anaphylactic reactions. Parvalbumin is the major allergen identified in fish and frog muscles. Antibodies against fish and frog parvalbumin have been used to quantify parvalbumin levels from fish. However, these antibodies react variably with parvalbumin from different fish species. Several factors might be responsible for this variation including instability of parvalbumin in fish muscle as a result of frozen storage and differential parvalbumin expression in muscles from various locations within the whole fish. We aimed to investigate whether these factors contribute to the previously observed variable immunoreactivity of the anti-parvalbumin antibodies. Results showed the detection of parvalbumin by these antibodies was unaffected by frozen storage of muscles for 112 days. However, the parvalbumin content decreased in fish muscles from anterior to posterior positions. This factor may partially explain for the inconsistent reactivity of anti-parvalbumin antibodies to different fish species.