RESUMO
Poultry by-products are great economic sources that need to be exploited. Poultry skin could be utilized to extract protein particularly elastin, which is often incorporated in the production of functional food, cosmetic industry or medicine due to its antioxidative properties. In this study, water-soluble elastin was successfully extracted from broiler and spent hen skin and analysed for antioxidant activities including DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl), ABTS and metal chelating activity. Antioxidant activity of elastin extracted from broiler skin hydrolysed by Alcalase (EBA) and Elastase (EBE) also elastin extracted from spent hen skin hydrolyzed by Alcalase (ESA) and Elastease (ESE). The EBE, EBA, ESE and ESA had higher DPPH (16-30, 19-35, 29-48 and 31-50%, respectively), ABTS activity ( 73-79, 60-79, 67-79 and 72-79 %, respectively), and Fe2+ chelating activity ( 65-69, 50-56, 71-77 and 62-70 %, respectively). This concluded that water-soluble elastin is a bioactive component that could potentially be used in the formulation of functional foods, nutraceuticals, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry.