Production of angiotensin-I converting enzyme inhibitory hydrolysates from egg albumen

ACE (Angiotensin-I converting enzyme) inhibitory peptides derived from foods are thought to suppress high blood pressure by inhibiting ACE. We tried to make efficient production of the ACE inhibitory hydrolysate from egg albumen. A hydrolysate digested by neutrase presented the highest ACE inhibitory activity (IC50 value=256.35 mug/ml) and the proper proteolysis was occurred by 1.0% enzyme addition and 4 h incubation at 47degreesC. Antihypertensive effect of neutrase hydrolysate was investigated in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR, n=5). Systolic blood pressure (SBP) was decrease by 6.88% (-14.14 mmHg, p<0.05) at 3 h after oral administration of 300 mg/kg body weight, and by 13.33% (-27.72 mmHg, p<0.05) by emulsified hydrolysate. These results showed that it is very effective to utilize egg albumen as a protein source for the production of ACE inhibitory peptides. However, further studies are required to investigate the methods to increase recovery yield and the isolation of active peptide is necessary for determining its sequence responsible for ACE inhibitory activity.