Antioxidant, anti‐inflammatory, hypoglycemic, and anti‐hyperglycemic activity of chickpea protein hydrolysates evaluated in BALB‐c mice

Abstract Chickpea (ICC3761) protein hydrolysates have shown high in vitro antioxidant activity (AoxA) and antidiabetic potential. The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vivo activities (i.e., antioxidant, anti‐inflammatory, hypoglycemic, and anti‐hyperglycemic) of chickpea albumin hydrolysates (CAH) obtained with alcalase and pepsin‐pancreatin (fractions ≤ 10 kDa). The CAH were analyzed for degree of hydrolysis (DH), electrophoretic and chromatographic profiles, and in vitro AoxA (2,2′‐azino‐bis(3‐ethylbenzothiazolin)‐6‐sulfonic acid [ABTS], 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐pycrilhydrazyl [DPPH]). They were also evaluated for AoxA, anti‐inflammatory and hypo‐ and anti‐hyperglycemic activities in BALB‐c mice. The DH was 20% for the alcalase CAH and 50% for the pepsin‐pancreatin CAH, while the AoxA by ABTS (1 mg/mL) was 64.8% and 64.9% and by DPPH (5 mg/mL) was 48.0% and 31.1%. In the in vivo AoxA assay, mice of non‐damaged control and those treated with both CAH showed similar alkaline phosphatase values, control and pepsin‐pancreatin treated groups had similar malondialdehyde levels, while treated and non‐damaged control groups had higher glutathione levels than the damaged control. Liver histopathology revealed that the pepsin‐pancreatin CAH mitigated most of the pathological changes associated with the induced oxidative damage. Both CAH (2 mg/ear) reduced croton oil‐induced ear edema in mice. The α‐glucosidase inhibition of CAH (100 mg/mL) was 31.1% (alcalase) and 52.4% (pepsin‐pancreatin). Mice treated with alcalase CAH (100 mg/mL) and glibenclamide exhibited similar hypoglycemic activities, whereas only those treated with the pepsin‐pancreatin CAH (200 mg/kg body weight) showed anti‐hyperglycemic activity. The results indicate that CAH can be used as a source of bioactive peptides with antioxidant, anti‐inflammatory, hypoglycemic, and anti‐hyperglycemic activities.