Enzymatic protein hydrolysates from high pressure-pretreated isolated pea proteins have better antioxidant properties than similar hydrolysates produced from heat pretreatment.

Isolated pea protein (IPP) dispersions (1%, w/v) were pretreated with high pressure (HP) of 200, 400, or 600 MPa for 5 min at 24 °C or high temperature (HT) for 30 min at 100 °C prior to hydrolysis with 1% (w/w) Alcalase. HP pretreatment of IPP at 400 and 600 MPa levels led to significantly (P<0.05) improved (>40%) oxygen radical absorption capacity (ORAC) of hydrolysates. 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, superoxide radical and hydroxyl radical scavenging activities of pea protein hydrolysates were also significantly (P<0.05) improved (25%, 20%, and 40%, respectively) by HP pretreatment of IPP. Protein hydrolysates from HT IPP showed no ORAC, superoxide or hydroxyl scavenging activity but had significantly (P<0.05) improved (80%) ferric reducing antioxidant power. The protein hydrolysates had weaker antioxidant properties than glutathione but overall, the HP pretreatment was superior to HT pretreatment in facilitating enzymatic release of antioxidant peptides from IPP.

Antihypertensive and free radical scavenging properties of enzymatic rapeseed protein hydrolysates.

In this study, rapeseed protein isolate (RPI) was digested with various proteases to produce rapeseed protein hydrolysates (RPHs), which were then separated into different peptide fractions (<1, 1-3, 3-5, and 5-10kDa) by membrane ultrafiltration. Membrane fractionation showed that peptides with sizes <3 kDa had significantly (p<0.05) reduced surface hydrophobicity when compared to the RPHs and peptide fractions with sizes >3 kDa. In contrast, the <3 kDa peptides showed significantly (p<0.05) higher oxygen radical scavenging ability when compared to the >3 kDa peptides and RPHs. In vitro inhibition of angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) was significantly (p<0.05) higher for the Thermolysin, Proteinase K and Alcalase RPHs when compared to the pepsin+pancreatin (PP) and Flavourzyme RPHs. The Alcalase RPH had significantly (p<0.05) higher renin inhibition among the RPHs, while with the exception of Thermolysin, the 5-10 kDa peptide fraction had the least renin-inhibitory ability when compared to the <5 kDa peptide fractions. Oral administration (100mg/kg body weight) of the RPHs and RPI to spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) showed the Alcalase RPH to be the most effective in blood pressure (BP) reduction (∼24 mm Hg) while Proteinase K RPH was the least effective (∼5 mm Hg) after 8h. However, the PP RPH had the most prolonged effect with BP reduction of ∼20 mm Hg after 24h of oral administration. We conclude that the strong BP-lowering ability of Alcalase and PP RPHs could be due to high resistance of the peptides to structural degradation coupled with high absorption rate within the gastrointestinal tract.