Preparation and Functional Activity of Food Bioactive Peptides

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 October 2025 | Viewed by 675

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Beijing Laboratory for Food Quality and Safety, College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China
Interests: collagen; casein; antioxidant; anti-aging; anti-inflammatory; anti-platelet; anti-thrombotic; anti-osteoporosis; hyperglycemic activity
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Dear Colleagues,

It is well known that dietary proteins provide a rich source of biologically active peptides that can be released through hydrolysis by proteolytic enzymes or fermentation. Bioactive peptides have exhibited various beneficial functional activities, in vitro and in vivo, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombotic, anti-osteoporosis activities, etc. However, the question remains: how can we prepare protein hydrolysates with high levels of bioactivity? The use of technology to degrade proteins in a bioenzyme-directed manner is the key to the preparation of highly bioactive peptide ingredients. Furthermore, hydrolysates are complex mixtures of peptides with different lengths and amino acid compositions, including large non-functional peptides, non-degraded proteins, and free amino acids. Hence, fractionation technologies are required to separate peptides from hydrolysates in order to concentrate the desired bioactive or functional peptides. Moreover, what is the amino acid sequence of the bioactive peptides inside? And how effective is it in cell-based or in animal experiments? All of these issues need to be further clarified, and the relevant research may help develop bioactive peptides as functional ingredients in the food industry.

Prof. Dr. Bo Li
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • proteins
  • enzyme hydrolysis
  • bioactive peptides
  • in vitro cell model
  • animal experiments
  • preparation
  • identification
  • bioactivity

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 2039 KiB  
Article
Protective Effects of Mackerel Protein Hydrolysates Against Oxidative Stress-Induced Atrophy in C2C12 Myotubes
by Gyu-Hyeon Park and Syng-Ook Lee
Foods 2025, 14(14), 2430; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14142430 - 10 Jul 2025
Viewed by 312
Abstract
Muscle aging and atrophy in the elderly are closely associated with increased oxidative stress in muscle tissue. Bioactive peptides derived from protein hydrolysates have emerged as promising functional ingredients for alleviating sarcopenia due to their antioxidant properties and enrichment in essential amino acids. [...] Read more.
Muscle aging and atrophy in the elderly are closely associated with increased oxidative stress in muscle tissue. Bioactive peptides derived from protein hydrolysates have emerged as promising functional ingredients for alleviating sarcopenia due to their antioxidant properties and enrichment in essential amino acids. In a preliminary screening, mackerel protein hydrolysate (MPH) showed notable protective effects in a myotube atrophy model. This study evaluated the anti-atrophic potential of MPHs produced using different enzymes in H2O2-treated C2C12 myotubes. Among five hydrolysates, the alcalase-derived hydrolysate (MHA) demonstrated the most potent effects in maintaining myotube diameter, restoring myosin heavy chain (MYH) expression, and downregulating the atrophy-related genes MAFbx and MuRF1. Mechanistically, MHA activated the Akt/FoxO signaling pathway and inhibited NF-κB activation, thereby reducing muscle protein degradation. Additionally, MHA significantly lowered intracellular ROS levels and showed strong direct antioxidant activity. Amino acid and molecular weight profiling revealed high levels of essential amino acids and low-molecular-weight peptides, suggesting a synergistic contribution to its bioactivity. These findings suggest that MHA is a promising food-derived functional material with anti-atrophic and antioxidant properties and may be useful in preventing or managing age-related muscle loss such as sarcopenia, warranting further preclinical validation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Preparation and Functional Activity of Food Bioactive Peptides)
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