Corn gluten meals were used as source materials to extract zein via the extrusion using a DS32- Ⅱ typetwin- screw extruder,and the effects of extrusion on the structure and physical properties of zein were investigated.The results show that the extrusion may result in the change of structural characteristics of zein; for instance,theprotein aggregates fuse in a certain degree,the position and intensity of the peak of extruded zein amide change inthe FT- IR spectrum,the α- helix and β- turn in the secondary structure turn into β- sheet and random coil,and thedenaturation temperature of zein decreases.Moreover,the extrusion also results in an improvement of physicalproperties of zein in terms of water- holding capacity,oil absorbency and viscosity.