Author(s): Borges, Thaís ; Coelho, Pedro ; Prudêncio, Cristina ; Gomes, Ana ; Gomes, Paula ; Ferraz, Ricardo ; Coelho, Pedro ; Prudêncio, Cristina ; Ferraz, Ricardo
Date: 2025
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/29936
Origin: Repositório Científico do Instituto Politécnico do Porto
Subject(s): Bioactive peptides; Milk proteins; Antioxidant; Anti-inflammatory; Antihypertensive
Peptides from protein ingredients exhibit key biological activities, including antimicrobial, antihypertensive, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and immunomodulatory effects. Aligning with the One Health approach, there is growing investment in promoting pet health and well-being. As a result, sustainable functional ingredients are increasingly essential for pet food development. In this work, peptides derived from lactoferrins of different mammalian species were synthesized and their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antihypertensive activities were investigated. This study examined the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antihypertensive activities, and cytotoxicity of bioactive peptides derived from lactoferrins of various mammalian species through spectroscopical methods. The peptides were produced via chemical synthesis (bottom-up approach). Peptides derived from bovine lactoferrin showed the most promising antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, whereas those derived from human lactoferrin showed the highest antihypertensive effects and the lowest cytotoxicity. In short, milk-derived peptides with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antihypertensive activity were identified. This motivates further studies to better characterize these peptides, including their properties and pharmacokinetics in vivo, to assess their true potential as nutraceutical agents.
