Antioxidant activity of low molecular peptides derived from milk protein

Abstract

The principal objective of the current study was to prepare low molecular weight peptides from milk proteins using enzymatic hydrolysis techniques, in an effort to assess the antioxidant activity of these peptides. The casein and whey proteins isolated from fresh milk were treated with several proteolytic enzymes, such as chymotrypsin, pepsin, and trypsin and the resulting low molecular weight peptides were collected by TCA precipitation. Their identity was confirmed by SDS-PAGE analysis. The hydrolysis experiments indicated that whey protein treated with chymotrypsin displayed the highest degree of protein hydrolysis. The antioxidant activity of milk protein hydrolysates was determined by measuring the ABTS-radical scavenging activity. The results of these experiments showed that hydrolysis of the milk protein was effective in increasing their antioxidant activities. Especially, the tryptic digested casein displayed the highest radical scavenging activity (80.7%). The hydrolyzed low molecular weight milk protein was isolated using an ultrafiltration membrane. The casein hydrolysate passed through a membrane with molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of 3 kDa displayed the strongest antioxidant activity.