ABSTRACT: Deer constitutes an important animal in traditional Chinese medicine and most deer organs are used as medicines or nourishment in traditional Chinese medicine. The most valuable portion of deer is the antler. With the development of deer breeding in northeast China, many other deer organs are now harvested after the antler is collected. Deer protein is the valuable source for producing bioactive peptides, which have been defined as specific protein fragments that have a positive impact on health. In the presentation, I will introduce our study on bioactive peptides derived from deer protein.
We proposed and applied the integrated approach of LC/MS/MS and in silico to identify angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) and dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV) inhibitory peptides from hydrolysates of deer proteins. (1) ACE plays an important physiological role in regulating blood pressure and fluid and salt balance in mammals. ACE inhibitors are wildly used as antihypertensive drugs. The hydrolysates of deer plasma protein showed ACE inhibition activity. The ACE inhibitory peptides were identified from the hydrolysates by the integrated approach of LC/MS/MS and in silico. The antihypertensive activity of the hydrolysates of deer plasma was verified in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). (2) DPP-IV inhibitors have been demonstrated to be an effective treatment option for type-2 diabetes. The integrated approach was used to identify DPP-IV inhibitory peptides derived from deer collagen. The effects of the modification and the length of the peptides on DPP-IV inhibition were discussed.