Chemical Compositions and Antioxidant Properties of Enzymatic Hydrolysates from Velvet Antler in Elk (Cervus elaphus canadensis).

In this study, velvet antler of elk was hydrolyzed by various enzyme and measured chemical compositions and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), hydroxyl, and alkyl radical scavenging activities by electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy. Velvet antler of elk was divided into 3 sections including upper, middle and base section. In addition, the velvet antler was hydrolyzed by two carbohydrases such as celluclast, termamyl and two proteases such as pepsin and flavourzyme. In the present study, the content of uronic acid was the highest in the middle section, but it was the lowest in the base section. The flavourzyme extract of the upper section and the pepsin extract of the middle section showed the highest sialic acid and glycosaminoglycan (GAG) contents. The content of TC was the highest in the middle section of the termamyl and pepsin extracts. On the other hand, the collagen contents showed the highest content in the base section in all enzymatic hydrolysates. Especially, the collagen content was mostly higher in carbohydrase (celluclast and termamyl) extracts compared to those of protease (pepsin and flavourzyme) extracts. In addition, all enzymatic hydrolysates from velvet antler effectively reduced intensities of free radicals. The flavourzyme extracts of all section particularly showed the highest DPPH scavenging activity. On the other hand, flavourzyme and pepsin hydrolysates of the upper sections showed the highest scavenging activity against hydroxyl (IC50=0.89 mg/ml) and alkyl radicals (IC50=0.42 mg/ml), respectively. These results suggested that the contents of chemical and biological substances of velvet antler are strongly influenced by the kind of enzymes and portion of velvet antler.