Abstract
Literature indicates that peptic and tryptic peptides derived from the enzymatic hydrolysis of lupin protein are able to modulate cholesterol metabolism in human hepatic HepG2 cells and that part of these peptides are absorbed in a small intestine model based on differentiated human Caco-2 cells. In this paper, a co-culture system, including Caco-2 and HepG2 cells, was investigated with two objectives: (a) to verify whether cholesterol metabolism in HepG2 cells was modified by the peptides absorption through Caco-2 cells; (b) to investigate how lupin peptides influence cholesterol metabolism in Caco-2 cells. The experiments showed that the absorbed peptides, not only maintained their bioactivity on HepG2 cells, but that this activity was improved by the crosstalk of the two cells systems in co-culture. In addition, lupin peptides showed a positive influence on cholesterol metabolism in Caco-2 cells, decreasing the proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) secretion.
Highlights
Lupin seed is gaining increasing attention due to its nutritional features, in particular the abundance of protein with a favourable essential amino acid composition [1], unsaturated fatty acids, fibre, minerals, carotenoids, tocoferols [2], and polyphenols [3], whereas isoflavones content is negligible [4]
Other evidences suggest that lupin protein can modulate the production of proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9), a protein which is correlated to atherosclerosis progression and is, a novel target for hypocholesterolaemic
In order to evaluate whether the absorbed peptides maintain their capacity to modulate cholesterol metabolism in hepatocytes, a co-culture system was set up combining differentiated Caco-2 cells cultured on filter inserts and hepatic HepG2 cells grown at the bottom bottom of the plates culture(Figure plates 1)
Summary
Lupin seed is gaining increasing attention due to its nutritional features, in particular the abundance of protein with a favourable essential amino acid composition [1], unsaturated fatty acids, fibre, minerals, carotenoids, tocoferols [2], and polyphenols [3], whereas isoflavones content is negligible [4]. Different studies have shown that lupin consumption provides useful health benefits [5], in the area of hyperglycaemia prevention [6,7], hypertension control [8,9], and cholesterol reduction. This activity has been investigated in animal models, such as rat [10,11], rabbit [12], and hamster [13], and in clinical trials [14,15]. Other evidences suggest that lupin protein can modulate the production of proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9), a protein which is correlated to atherosclerosis progression and is, a novel target for hypocholesterolaemic
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