ANTIOXIDANT, ANTIHYPERTENSIVE AND CELL REGULATION ACTIVITY OF BIOACTIVE PEPTIDES FROM GOAT COLOSTRUM FERMENTED WITH MIXED KEFIR CONSORTIA FOR HEALTH BENEFITS
TEODORA C. CIUCAN (1, 2), OANA CRACIUNESCU (2*), ANDREEA PLANGU (2), ELENA MIHAI (2), FLORENTINA MATEI (1, 3)
1. University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Biotechnology, 59, Marasti Blvd, 011464 Bucharest, Romania
2. National Institute of R&D for Biological Sciences, 296, Splaiul Independentei, 060031 Bucharest, Romania
3. Transilvania University of Brasov, Faculty of Food and Tourism, 148, Castelului St., 500014 Brasov, Romania
*Corresponding author: oana.craciunescu@incdsb.ro
Abstract
The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of goat colostrum fermentation on the isolation of bioactive peptides and their biochemical and biological properties. In this respect, goat colostrum was fermented using kefir and mixed microbial consortia, followed by centrifugal ultrafiltration to obtain peptide fractions with the molecular weight (MW) less than 3 kDa. The results showed that fermentation increased the soluble protein content up to 2.7-fold, compared to unfermented colostrum. Electrophoretic analysis confirmed casein degradation and enrichment in low MW peptides. The peptide fractions exhibited enhanced antioxidant activity and significant angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity. In vitro cytocompatibility testing showed stimulation of L929 fibroblasts metabolic activity. These findings supported mixed microbial fermentation as a promising approach for obtaining bioactive peptides of interest in functional food development.