BSA in Scientific and Dietary Functions

Bovine serum albumin is an important component of restriction digest. In molecular biology, restriction digest is the process in which DNA is prepared for analysis. The BSA is used to stabilize some of the enzymes during the digestion of DNA. Bovine serum albumin is also quite handy in the breakdown of DNA as it prevents an adhesion of the enzyme to test tubes.

Bovine serum albumin is known for its high stability. As such, BSA does not affect the other enzymes that don't need it for stabilization. Therefore, bovine serum albumin is ideal for determining the other quantity of proteins. You simply compare the unknown quantity of proteins to the known quantity of BSA.

A natural byproduct of the cattle industry, bovine serum albumin is cheap and plentiful. Large quantities of BSA can readily be purified from bovine blood, which keeps prices down. This probably explains why bovine serum albumin is a common food ingredient as a meat substitute and dairy product supplement. It's also common in dietary supplements and the clinical nutrition markets.

Bovine serum albumin earned the nickname Fraction V because albumin was the fifth fraction of the original purification methodology making use of the differential solubility of plasma proteins. Solvent concentrations, pH, temperature and salt levels are manipulated in order to pull out and remove blood plasma. The process was originally developed for medical purposes using human albumin, but was later adopted to make BSA for food, science and drugs.

Although bovine serum albumin is used in a number of industries, its role in the functional properties of whey protein concentrates is not yet understood. BSA only makes up about 5 percent of the protein in whey protein concentrates. It's primary biological function is associated with lipid binding properties, but how it performs this role is yet unknown. Some suspect that bovine serum albumin plays a role in mediating lipid oxidation, as BSA has been shown to protect lipids against phenolic induced oxidation.

Some suspect that bovine serum albumin might reduce the probability of acquiring insulin dependent diabetes as well as auto-immune disease. BSA has been found to be one of the few proteins effective against genotoxic compounds.

Our knowledge and use of bovine serum albumin is growing. While we don't yet understand the reasons behind its properties, we see the scientific and dietary potential. BSA has improved our understanding of DNA while improving vaccine quality and dietary supplements at the same time. It will continue to benefit the scientific and dietary communities as further uses are developed.

About the Author:

Corenlius Griffin is the author of this article on Bovine Serum Albumin. Find more information about BSA here.