Isolation of marine crab (Charybdis natator) leg muscle peptide and its anti-inflammatory effects on macrophage cells

Abstract Marine organisms provide an intriguing number of bioactive compounds. These bioactive compounds show immunomodulatory, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activities. Crabs rank third after shrimps and lobster as seafood delicacies and provide major health benefits when consumed due to presence of proteins, vitamins and unsaturated essential fatty acids. Due to their diverse biological activities, the peptides derived from marine sources may treat various diseases such as migraine, inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis etc. In this study the Crab Leg (CL) muscle was isolated and further hydrolysed using trypsin, alcalase and papain to produce enzymatic hydrolysates. The results obtained from degree of hydrolysis showed that the enzymes significantly cleave the proteins. Furthermore, the HPLC analysis for amino acid compositions of CL showed the sample contained both essential and non-essential amino acids where histidine (%) was highest. In vitro assays for anti-inflammatory activity like Albumin Denaturation (AD) and HRBC Membrane Stabilization (HMS) assay helped to determine the active hour hydrolysate showing the trypsin 3rd hr hydrolysate as having highest activity in CL (90.57 ± 0.95% and 49.94 ± 1.52%). This active hour hydrolysate was purified using gel filtration chromatography and the fractions were determined using AD and HMS assay which resolved fraction Ⅰ to be more active in CL. The low molecular weight peptide sequence was found to be L-G-L-G-A-A-V-L (713.456 Da) by using LC-MS/MS. Further, cell proliferation assay and ELISA were performed for the purified peptide to test the suppression of LPS-mediated induction of COX-2 in RAW264.7 macrophage cells.