Antioxidant properties of papain hydrolysates of wheat gluten in different oxidation systems

Enzymatic hydrolysis was used for preparing hydrolysates from wheat gluten which is by-product during production of wheat starch. The enzyme used for the hydrolysis was papain. The hydrolysate was separated based on the molecular weight of the peptides by membrane ultrafiltration (UF) with a molecular weight cut-off of 5 kDa into permeate (P) and retentate (5-K) fractions. The antioxidative activities of the hydrolysate and its UF fractions were investigated by using the TBA method and scavenging effect of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical. The three fractions showed strong antioxidative activities in the linoleic acid oxidation system, and exhibited DPPH radical scavenging activity. The antioxidative activity of the P fraction was almost the same as that of vitamin E at pH 7.0. The molecular weight distribution of the P fraction was concentrated in 4.2 kDa (86.5%) after gel permeation chromatography fractionation using an HPLC system.The P and 5-K fractions had higher surface hydrophobicities (H0) at pH7.0 compared with the hydrolysate. The resulting UF fractions were superior to the hydrolysate in terms of antioxidative activities.