Biotecnología

 

Determination of antioxidant and chelating activity of protein hydrolysates from spirulina (Arthrospira maxima) obtained by simulated gastrointestinal digestion

 

Determinación de actividad antioxidante y quelante de hidrolizados proteicos de espirulina (Arthrospira maxima) obtenidos por simulación de digestión gastrointestinal

 

N. Martínez-Palma¹, A. Martínez-Ayala² y G. Dávila-Ortíz¹*

 

¹ Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional. Prol. Carpio, Esq. Plan de Ayala S/N, Col. Casco de Santo Tomás, Del. Miguel Hidalgo, 11340 México, D. F., México. *Corresponding author. E-mail: gdavilao@yahoo.com Tel.: +52 5557296000x62462; fax: +52 5557296000.

² Centro de Desarrollo de Productos Bióticos. Instituto Politécnico Nacional. Carretera Yautepec-Jojutla, Km. 6, 62731 Yautepec, Morelos, México.

 

Received November 30, 2014
Accepted January 16, 2015

 

Abstract

Spirulina is a cyanobacteria that has been used as food since ancient times, for example in Mexico it was consumed by the Aztecs. Its high protein content, distribution and amino acid composition suggests the presence of important peptides encrypted within the sequences of parent proteins, that after been released by digestive process they could show an antioxidant effect. Our present study examined the above hypothesis through the determination of the antioxidant and chelating activity of two Spirulina samples (SpRPh: Spirulina reduced of pholyphenols and PCBEx: extract of phycobiliproteins), subjected both to sequential hydrolysis with pepsin and pancreatin. At the end of the enzymatic action, extensive hydrolysates with a degree of hydrolysis (% DH) of 31.4 and 36.7%, for SpRPh and PCBEx respectively, were obtained. By determining the electrophoretic profiles, the degradadon of characteristic bands of Spirulina proteins and the release of smaller peptides were observed. As a general trend, the antioxidant activity determined by different methods improved after simulating gastrointestinal digestion. On the other hand, protein hydrolysates from both groups showed Cu²+ and Fe²+ chelating; activity.

Key words: spirulina, protein hydrolysates, antioxidant activity, chelating activity.

 

Resumen

La espirulina es una cianobacteria que se ha utilizado en México como alimento desde la época de los aztecas. Su alto contenido de proteína, composición y secuencia de amino ácidos sugiere la presencia de péptidos encriptados dentro de las proteínas nativas, que después de ser liberados por la digestión gastrointestinal, pueden ejercer un efecto antioxidante. En el presente trabajo, se determinó la actividad antioxidante y quelante de dos muestras de espirulina (SpRPh: espirulina reducida en polifenoles y PCBEx: extracto de ficobiliproteínas), sometidas a hidrólisis secuencial con pepsina y pancreatina. Se obtuvieron hidrolizados extensivos que mostraron grados de hidrólisis de 31.4% y 36.7% para SpRPh y PCBEx respectivamente. A traves de los perfiles electroforéticos, se observó) la degradación de bandas características de las proteínas de espirulina y la liberación de péptidos de menor tamaño. En general, la actividad antioxidante determinada por diferentes métodos se incrementó por acción de la hidrólisis enzimática. Por otro lado, los hidrolizados protéicos de ambas muestras mostraron actividad quelante de Fe²⁺ y Cu²⁺.

Palabras clave: espirulina, hidrolizados protéicos, actividad antioxidante, actividad quelante.

 

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Acknowledgements

This research was partially funded by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) through doctoral scholarship 216217 and a scholarship from the Programa Institucional de Formación de Investigadores (PIFI).

 

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