Bovine Milk Casein-Derived Sleep-Enhancing Peptides: Bioavailability, Functional Mechanisms, and Development Strategies

Bovine milk casein-derived sleep-enhancing peptides (CSEPs), as natural bioactive substances, demonstrate significant potential in sleep promotion. This review focuses on the digestion, absorption, and metabolic characteristics of CSEPs, conducts a comprehensive review of its sleep-enhancing mechanism, and discusses new development strategies. On the one hand, CSEPs can directly act on the central nervous system, cause changes in neuronal potential through the structure-activity compatibility mechanisms, and thereby promote sleep. On the other hand, CSEPs can regulate gut microbiota composition and metabolites, activate the neuroimmune and endocrine systems, and affect the formation of neurons through the gut-brain axis, thereby indirectly mediating sleep. New development strategies for CSEPs are proposed. Computer-aided technology can be utilized to model and predict their structure-activity relationship. Then, through the bacterium-enzyme synergy technology, CSEPs can be prepared in a targeted manner. Finally, electrophysiological technology and animal models can be used to explore the mechanism of CSEPs.