Inhibition of angiotensin I-converting enzyme by wheat gliadin hydrolysates

A tryptic gliadin hydrolysate was fractionated into peptide fractions, which were assigned to either the central domain (CD) or terminal domains (TD) of gliadins. The domains were expected to contain amino acid (AA) sequences which, when released from the parent protein, inhibit the angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE), which plays a key role in regulating blood pressure. A proline (Pro) poor TD related fraction, containing the smallest peptides, showed the highest ACE inhibitory activity (IC₅₀ = 0.33 mg/ml). Additional peptidases were selected based on their in silico predicted ability to release ACE inhibitory peptides. Further hydrolysis of the tryptic hydrolysate fractions with thermolysin, Clarex, Alcalase and Esperase increased ACE inhibitory activities. Immobilised Ni²⁺-ion affinity chromatography (IMAC) purification of a TD related peptide fraction obtained by sequential hydrolysis with trypsin and thermolysin yielded a fraction with an IC₅₀ value of 0.02 mg/ml. This IMAC fraction was enriched in histidine and hydrophobic AA (Pro, Val, Ile, Leu and Phe).     

A HPLC-UV method for the determination of angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity

To determine the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity of a fish hydrolysate, different methods were tested. Finally, a sensitive, extraction-free HPLC method using N-(3-[2-furylacryloyl)-Phe-Gly-Gly (FAPGG) as substrate was preferred. This method relies on the UV-titration of the peptide 2-furylacryloyl-l-Phe (FAP) resulting from the hydrolysis of the FAPGG after a chromatographic separation on a reverse phase column. The experimental conditions (enzyme/substrate ratio, incubation time, NaCl concentration) were optimised for linearity, sensitivity and precision. The assay was adequate for the study of ACE inhibition by Captopril, used as reference, and several peptides. Captopril and the fish hydrolysate had IC₅₀ values, respectively of 0.19 ng and 43 μg with standard deviations of 0.09 ng and 5 μg. Afterwards, the determination of the Hill coefficient sustained the hypothesis that active peptides present in the fish hydrolysate were low-molecular weight molecules. This result was confirmed by the activity measurement of the fish hydrolysate fractions obtained by gel filtration.