Significance of whey protein hydrolysate on anti-oxidative, ACE-inhibitory and anti-inflammatory activities and release of peptides with biofunctionality: an in vitro and in silico approach.

The study aimed to investigate potent antioxidant activities (ABTS assay, Hydroxyl free radical scavenging assay, and Superoxide free radical assay), ACE inhibitory activity, and anti-inflammatory activity in the WPC (whey protein concentrate) hydrolysate using Alcalase. The hydrolysis conditions (addition rate and incubation times) for peptide synthesis were also optimized using proteolytic activity. The generation of proinflammatory cytokines by lipopolysaccharide-treated murine macrophages was reduced when the protein hydrolysate concentration was low. In comparison to unhydrolyzed WPC, SDS-PAGE examination revealed no protein bands in WPC hydrolysates. Two-Dimensional (2D) gel electrophoresis did not show any protein spots. Using the 'In-solution trypsin digestion' approach, the trypsin digested protein samples were put into RPLC/MS for amino acid sequencing. Peptides were also identified using RPLC/MS on fractions of 3 and 10 kDa permeates and retentates. The MASCOT database was used to look up the raw masses of LC/MS. By comparing hydrolyzed whey protein to the BLASTp (NCBI), PIR, BIOPEP, and AHTPDB databases, novel antioxidative and ACE inhibitory peptides were reported. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13197-021-05282-3. © Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India) 2021.