Antiradical effect of low-molecular peptides in extracts and hydrolyzates from tissues of water organisms

Molecular-weight composition of peptides in extracts and hydrolyzates from soft tissues of the clams Corbicula japonica and Mercenaria mercenaria and liver of chum salmon is investigated. Antiradical activity is defined for low-molecular peptides, as well as for high-molecular proteins and free amino acids in the extracts. The maximum activity is detected for the extracts of salmon liver; all protein fractions in the water extract of the liver have antiradical activity. Low-molecular peptides and free amino acids have antiradical activity in all samples. The peptides with molecular weight 4.3 kDa have the highest activity in the water extract from C. japonica (43 units) and the peptides with molecular weight 4.7 kDa - in the water extract from M. mercenaria (5.6 units). After hydrolysis, the portion of low-molecular peptides increases for C. japonica , M. mercenaria , and salmon liver in 22.1, 14.5, and 11.1 %, respectively. Hence antiradical activity for hydrolyzates from C. japonica and M. mercen aria is in 1.9 times higher and for hydrolyzates from salmon liver - in 1.3 times higher than for water extracts from their tissues. Only the peptides with molecular weight 2.8-4.7 kDa have antiradical activity in the hydrolyzates; its value is 1-24 activity units for M. mercenaria ; 13-76 units for C. japonica and about 40 units for the chum salmon liver. Correlation is found between the content of peptides with molecular weight 3-4 kDa in hydrolyzates and their antiradical activity

Proximate Composition, Antioxidant Properties, and Hepatoprotective Activity of Three Species of Shellfish of the Pacific Coast of Russia

The objective of the present study was to investigate the proximate composition, antiradical properties and hepatoprotective activity of three species of shellfish, Corbicula japonica, Spisula sachalinensis, and Anadara broughtonii, from the coastal areas of Far East Russia. Biologically active peptides such as taurine (3.74 g/100 g protein) and ornithine (2.12 g/100 g protein) have been found in the tissues of A. broughtonii. C. japonica contains a high amount of ornithine (5.57 g/100 g protein) and taurine (0.85 g/100 g protein). The maximum DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activity (36.0 µg ascorbic acid/g protein and 0.68 µmol/Trolox equiv/g protein, respectively) was determined for the tissue of C. japonica. The protein and peptide molecular weight distribution of the shellfish tissue water extracts was investigated using HPLC. It was found that the amount of low molecular weight proteins and peptides were significantly and positively correlated with radical scavenging activity (Pearson’s correlation coefficient = 0.96), while the amount of high molecular weight proteins negatively correlated with radical scavenging activity (Pearson’s correlation coefficient = −0.86). Hepatoprotective activity, measured by the survival rate of HepG2 hepatocytes after cotreatment with t-BHP, was detected for C. japonica. The highest protection (95.3 ± 2.4%) was achieved by the cold water extract of C. japonica at the concentration of 200 mg/mL. Moreover, oral administration of hot water extract of C. japonica to rats before the treatment with CCl4 exhibited a markedly protective effect by lowering serum levels of ALT and AST, inhibiting the changes in biochemical parameters of functional state of rat liver, including MDA, SOD, GSH and GST