High Fischer ratio oligopeptides determination from Antartic krill: Preparation, peptides profiles, and in vitro antioxidant activity

In this work, alcalase and flavorzyme were chosen as the hydrolase for preparing high Fischer ratio oligopeptides from Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) (HFP) using sequential enzyme hydrolysis process, and their hydrolysis conditions were optimized using single factor experiment. According to the Fischer ratio, granular activated carbon of XHJ-200 (200 mesh) showed the best way to remove aromatic amino acids and its optimal parameters were pH value of 6.0, adsorption time of 2.5 hr, temperature of 25°C, and solid-liquid ratio of 1:20. The Fischer ratio and average molecular weight of HFP were 21.12 (>20) and 779.9 Da, respectively. In addition, the peptide profile of HFP was established using RP-HPLC and 23 oligopeptides isolated from HFP including 6 dipeptides, 9 tripeptides, 3 tetrapeptides, and 5 pentapeptides were identified using protein amino acid sequence analyzer and mass spectrum. Furthermore, HFP exhibited high radical scavenging activity, reducing power, and lipid peroxidation inhibition capability. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: High Fischer ratio oligopeptides (HFO) is a kind of small peptide mixture with the mole ratio of branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) to aromatic amino acids (AAA) higher than 20, which has drawn a great attention due to its great potential in clinical nutrition approaches for the treatment of liver disease when amino acid composition is out of proportion characterized by low levels of BCAA and high levels of AAA in the systemic blood. Antarctic krill is regarded as the largest animal protein resource for various food and pharmaceutical products. However, there is no report on the preparation of HFO of Antarctic krill (HFP). Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the preparation process, peptide profiles and in vitro antioxidant activity of HFP. This study will potentially enhance the value-added utilization of Antarctic krill by making it an important raw material in the health-promoting functional products.