Abstract
BackgroundThe use of deer velvet antler (DVA) as a potent traditional medicine ingredient goes back for over 2000 years in Asia. Increasingly, though, DVA is being included as a high protein functional food ingredient in convenient, ready to consume products in Korea and China. As such, it is a potential source of endogenous bioactive peptides and of ‘cryptides’, i.e. bioactive peptides enzymatically released by endogenous proteases, by processing and/or by gastrointestinal digestion. Fermentation is an example of a processing step known to release bioactive peptides from food proteins. In this study, we aimed to identify in silico bioactive peptides and cryptides in DVA, before and after fermentation, and subsequently to validate the major predicted bioactivity by in vitro analysis.MethodsPeptides that were either free or located within proteins were identified in the DVA samples by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) followed by database searching. Bioactive peptides and cryptides were identified in silico by sequence matching against a database of known bioactive peptides. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity was measured by a colorimetric method.ResultsThree free bioactive peptides (LVVYPW, LVVYPWTQ and VVYPWTQ) were solely found in fermented DVA, the latter two of which are known ACE inhibitors. However matches to multiple ACE inhibitor cryptides were obtained within protein and peptide sequences of both unfermented and fermented DVA. In vitro analysis showed that the ACE inhibitory activity of DVA was more pronounced in the fermented sample, but both unfermented and fermented DVA had similar activity following release of cryptides by simulated gastrointestinal digestion.ConclusionsDVA contains multiple ACE inhibitory peptide sequences that may be released by fermentation or following oral consumption, and which may provide a health benefit through positive effects on the cardiovascular system. The study illustrates the power of in silico combined with in vitro methods for analysis of the effects of processing on bioactive peptides in complex functional ingredients like DVA.
Highlights
The use of deer velvet antler (DVA) as a potent traditional medicine ingredient goes back for over 2000 years in Asia
Simulated gastrointestinal digestion was performed on each sample, and the digests were analysed by Gel filtration chromatography (GFC) under the same conditions as the phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) extracts
The in silico analysis revealed that DVA contains a large number of potential bioactive peptide sequences, and that this was increased by fermentation
Summary
The use of deer velvet antler (DVA) as a potent traditional medicine ingredient goes back for over 2000 years in Asia. Though, DVA is being included as a high protein functional food ingredient in convenient, ready to consume products in Korea and China. As such, it is a potential source of endogenous bioactive peptides and of ‘cryptides’, i.e. bioactive peptides enzymatically released by endogenous proteases, by processing and/or by gastrointestinal digestion. DVA is being included as a Healthy Functional Food ingredient in convenient consumer-ready forms such as drinks, health bars, chewing gum and probiotic yoghurt This new usage is increasing so rapidly that by 2020 at least half of the DVA exported from New Zealand to South Korea and China will be utilised in such products (unpublished observations, C Stevenson, Deer Industry New Zealand). A significant knowledge gap exists that reduces opportunities for exploitation of DVA as a functional food ingredient
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