Evaluation of the Antioxidant Activity In Vitro and in Hippocampal HT-22 Cells System of Protein Hydrolysates of Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio) By-Product

Fish processing by-products may become more than 50% of the starting material. If mismanaged, these large quantities of discarded fish can create serious pollution problems and can also generate cost associated with their disposal. Enzymatic hydrolysis is one of the techniques that is currently being developed in order to recover and add value to these biomolecules. There is an increasing interest in natural antioxidants that are safer for consumers compared with synthetic antioxidants. In this study, common carp by-product was hydrolyzed using the enzymes Alcalase (A) and Protamex(P) to reach degrees of hydrolysis (DH) of 10 and 15%, respectively. Antioxidant capacity against peroxyl radicals (ACAP); 1,1-diphenyl-2picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging; and the measurement of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) concentration after exposure to common carp protein hydrolysates were investigated. The results revealed that the hydrolysate A15 exhibited significantly (p < 0.05) higher antioxidant activity against the DPPH radical. A15 showed the highest in vitro antioxidant competence against peroxyl radicals, whereas P15 showed the lowest activity against peroxyl radicals (p < 0.05). Hydrolysates having the highest and the lowest in vitro antioxidant activity (A15 and P15, respectively) were selected for the determination of antioxidant activity in the HT-22 cells system. Measurement of intracellular ROS concentration revealed that P15 at the concentration of 1.25 mg/mL significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the intracellular ROS concentration. These results showed that common carp by- product protein hydrolysates are a source of antioxidant peptides with a high potential for food and pharmaceutical industries to develop new nutraceuticals and functional foods.