Recent and novel processing technologies coupled with enzymatic hydrolysis to enhance the production of antioxidant peptides from food proteins: A review

Antioxidant peptides obtained through enzymatic hydrolysis of food proteins exhibit a broad range of bioactivities both in vitro and in vivo models. The antioxidant peptides showed the potential to fight against the reactive oxygen species, free radicals and other pro-oxidative substances which are considered the source of various chronic diseases for humans. Both animals and plants have been recognized as natural protein sources and attracted much research interest over the synthetic ones in terms of safety. However, the main challenge remains to increase the antioxidant peptides yield, reduce the enzyme quantity and the reaction time. Consequently, different efficient and innovative food processing technologies such as thermal, ultrasound, microwave, high hydrostatic pressure, pulsed electric field, etc. have been developed and currently used to treat food proteins before (pretreatment) or during the enzymatic hydrolysis (assisted). Those technologies were found to significantly enhance the degree of hydrolysis and the production of substantial antioxidant peptides. These emerging technologies enhance the enzymatic hydrolysis by inducing protein denaturation/unfolding, and the enzymatic activation without altering their functional and nutritional properties. This review discusses the state of the art of thermal, ultrasound, high hydrostatic pressure, microwave, and pulsed electric field techniques, their applications while coupled with enzymatic hydrolysis, their comparison and potential challenges for the production of antioxidant peptides from food proteins.

Structural, antioxidant, aroma, and sensory characteristics of Maillard reaction products from sweet potato protein hydrolysates as influenced by different ultrasound-assisted enzymatic treatments

Effects of energy-divergent ultrasound (EDU), energy-gathered ultrasound (EGU), and energy-gathered ultrasound-microwave (EGUM) on structure, antioxidant activities, aroma, and sensory attributes of Maillard reaction products (MRPs) from sweet potato protein hydrolysates (SPPH) were investigated. EGU and EGUM markedly enhanced the Maillard reaction (MR) progress. FTIR results revealed significant peptide structure changes in MRPs as compared to their SPPHs counterparts. EGU-MRPs exhibited the highest percentages in lower MW fractions of 200-3,000 Da, and presented a significantly enhanced ORAC value of 92.10 µg TE/mL (p < 0.05). Besides, EGU-MRPs and EGUM-MRPs showed higher content and quality of aroma compounds than other MRPs, and presented increased umami, sweetness, and sourness attributes, but decreased bitterness (p < 0.05). Their stronger umami taste was highly correlated to 1-naphthalenol, dodecanoic acid, <200, 200-500, 500-1,000 and 1,000-3,000 Da. Thus, EGU and EGUM assisted enzymatic hydrolysis coupled with MR might be promising ways to produce natural flavoring with improved antioxidant activities.

Ultrasound microwave-assisted enzymatic production and characterisation of antioxidant peptides from sweet potato protein

Herein, we investigated the effects of ultrasound microwave (UM)-assisted hydrolysis using Alcalase (ALC), Flavourzyme (FLA), and their combination (ALC + FLA), on the production of sweet potato protein hydrolysates (SPPH). UM-assisted enzymatic hydrolysis significantly increased the degree of hydrolysis of SPPH compared with untreated (UN) samples. Fractions with differences in molecular weight (MW) of >10, 3-10, and < 3 kDa in SPPH from UM-assisted ALC, FLA, and ALC + FLA hydrolysis displayed higher antioxidant activities than those from UN samples. MW < 3 kDa fractions of SPPH from UM-assisted ALC and ALC + FLA hydrolysis treatments presented much stronger Fe²⁺-chelating activity (98.48% and 98.59%), ·OH scavenging activity (67.11% and 60.06%), and higher ORAC values (110.32 and 106.32 µg TE/mL), from which diverse peptides with potential antioxidant activities were obtained by semi-preparative HPLC and LC-MS/MS. All identified peptide sequences exhibited at least three potential antioxidant amino acids. Additionally, changes in peptide conformational structure and antioxidant amino acid composition were revealed by structure-activity relationship analysis. Thus, ultrasound microwave treatment has great potential in antioxidant peptides production.