Enhancing Zinc Uptake through Dual-Modification of Cicer arietinum Protein

Zinc is crucial for physiological processes; however, deficiency persists globally. Binding zinc to plant proteins enhances absorption, minimizing toxicity risks and offering a potential solution for deficiency. Mineral binding efficiency of the unmodified protein is limited; hence, dual modification (succinylation and ultrasonication) is potentially used to achieve higher binding efficiency. Enhancing zinc uptake is crucial for cellular health due to its vital roles in various biological processes including enzymatic activity, DNA repair, immune function, antioxidant defense, hormone regulation, brain function, signaling, growth, gene expression, and reproduction. Therefore, this research aimed to develop a chickpea protein-zinc complex and to evaluate the influence of dual modification on their physiochemical, bioavailability, and cellular mineral uptake attributes. Succinylation exhibited significant improvements in the water-holding capacity by 28.73%, oil-holding capacity by 34.09%, and solubility by 5.46% of the chickpea protein-zinc complex as compared to the native complex. Mineral bioavailability increased by 8.32%, and there were notable increases in cellular uptake of zinc by 2.10%, retention by 5.80%, and transport by 3.96%, respectively. Furthermore, the dual modification approach resulted in a notable decrease in the particle size of the chickpea protein-zinc complex, with a substantial reduction of 73.25% and an increased zeta potential value of -21 mV compared to the succinylated complex. As well, dual modification concurrently led to a substantial decline of 48.04% in the sulfhydryl (SH) content, coupled with a marked increase of 21.92% in the surface hydrophobicity. In addition, zinc bioavailability, cellular uptake, retention, and transport were further enhanced by 1.89, 3.34, and 4.8% through dual modification. Our findings highlight that the dual modification of the chickpea protein-zinc complex shows a promising strategy for enhancing the techno-functional characteristics, bioavailability, and cellular uptake of zinc, which could be a better platform for developing vegan foods.