Optimisation, by response surface methodology, of degree of hydrolysis and antioxidant and ACE-inhibitory activities of whey protein hydrolysates obtained with cardoon extract

Properties and applications of phytepsins from thistle flowers

Aqueous extracts of thistle flowers from the genus Cynara-Cardueae tribe Cass. (Cynareae Less.), Asteraceae Dumortier-are traditionally used in the Mediterranean region for production of artisanal cheeses. This is because of the presence of aspartic proteases (APs) with the ability to coagulate milk. Plant APs, collectively known as phytepsins (EC 3.4.23.40), are bilobed endopeptidases present in an ample variety of plant species with activity mainly at acidic pHs, and have two aspartic residues located on each side of a catalytic cleft that are responsible for catalysis. The cleavage of the scissile peptide-bond occurs primarily between residues with large hydrophobic side-chains. Even when aspartylendopeptidase activity in plants is normally present at relatively low levels overall, the flowers of several species of the Cardueae tribe possess APs with extremely high specific activities in certain tissues. For this reason, in the last two decades, APs present in thistle flowers have been the subject of intensive study. Present here is a compilation of work that summarizes the known chemical and biological properties of these proteases, as well as their biomedical and biotechnological applications.

Optimisation of the hydrolysis of goat milk protein for the production of ACE-inhibitory peptides

Goat milk protein was hydrolysed with subtilisin and trypsin. As input variables, temperature was assayed in the interval 45–70 °C for subtilisin and 30–55 °C for trypsin, while the enzyme-substrate ratio varied from 1 to 5%. The effect of the input variables on the degree of hydrolysis and ACE-inhibitory activity (output variables) was modelled by second order polynomials, which were able to fit the experimental data with deviations below 10%. The individual maximum values of the degree of hydrolysis and the ACE-inhibitory activity were found at conflicting conditions of temperature and enzyme-substrate ratio. Since such maximum values could not be reached simultaneously, a bi-objective optimisation procedure was undertaken, producing a set of non-inferior solutions that weighted both objectives.

Analysis of whey protein hydrolysates: peptide profile and ACE inhibitory activity

The aim of this study was to prepare enzymatic hydrolysates from whey protein concentrate with a nutritionally adequate peptide profile and the ability to inhibit angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) activity. The effects of the type of enzyme used (pancreatin or papain), the enzyme:substrate ratio (E:S ratio=0.5:100, 1:100, 2:100 and 3:100) and the use of ultrafiltration (UF) were investigated. The fractionation of peptides was performed by size-exclusion-HPLC, and the quantification of the components of the chromatographic fractions was carried out by a rapid Corrected Fraction Area method. The ACE inhibitory activity (ACE-IA) was determined by Reverse Phase-HPLC. All parameters tested affected both the peptide profile and the ACE-IA. The best peptide profile was achieved for the hydrolysates obtained with papain, whereas pancreatin was more advantageous in terms of ACE-IA. The beneficial effect of using a lower E:S ratio on the peptide profile and ACE-IA was observed for both enzymes depending on the conditions used to prepare the hydrolysates. The beneficial effect of not using UF on the peptide profile was observed in some cases for pancreatin and papain. However, the absence of UF yielded greater ACE-IA only when using papain.

Optimization of glutamine peptide production from soybean meal and analysis of molecular weight distribution of hydrolysates

The process parameters of enzymatic hydrolysis and molecular weight distribution of glutamine (Gln) peptides from soybean meal were investigated. The Protamex(®) hydrolysis pH of 6.10, temperature of 56.78 °C, enzyme to substrate ratio (E/S) of 1.90 and hydrolysis time of 10.72 h were found to be the optimal conditions by response surface methodology (RSM) for a maximal degree of hydrolysis (DH) value of 16.63% and Gln peptides content at 5.95 mmol/L. The soybean meal was hydrolyzed by a combination of Protamex(®) and trypsinase so that DH and Gln peptides would reach 22.02% and 6.05 mmol/mL, respectively. The results of size exclusion chromatography indicated that the relative proportion of the molecular weight <1000 Da fraction increased with DH values from 6.76%, 11.13%, 17.89% to 22.02%, most notably the 132-500 Da fractions of hydrolysates were 42.14%, 46.57%, 58.44% and 69.65%. High DH values did not lead to high Gln peptides content of the hydrolysate but to the low molecular weight Gln peptides.