Abstract
Barley hordein was comparable to maize zein in antioxida-tion under a powder model system. Various deamidated “hordein” preparations were obtained and examined for their molecular-size distri-bution (by Sephacryl S-loo gel filtration), hydrophobicity (by fluores-cence measurement using fluorescent probes) and antioxidative activity (by the ferric thiocyanate method). Deamidation caused fragmentation of the hordein molecule and simultaneously lowered its fatty acid-binding capacity rather than its surface hydrophobicity. Then, the antioxidative activity diminished with increasing deamidation. When the fatty acid-binding capacity was plotted against the antioxidative activity, a high correlation (r2=0.92) was observed between these two events.
