Antioxidant activity of glycoprotein purified from Undaria pinnatifida measured by an in vitro digestion model

The present study was performed to investigate the chemical composition and antioxidant activity of glycoprotein purified from Undaria pinnatifida Harvey (UPGP). On SDS-PAGE, UPGP migrated as a single band with a molecular weight of approximately 10 kDa and confirmed by staining with Schiff's reagent as glycoprotein. It consists of a carbohydrate component (42.53%) and protein component (57.47%). Amino acid profile, FT-IR spectrum and enzymatic glycosylation analysis suggested that protein is linked with carbohydrate by O-glycosylation. UPGP showed dose-dependent antioxidant activities as detected by different assays before and after in vitro digestion. The IC50 values of undigested UPGP were 0.25 ± 0.03, 0.08 ± 0.005, 0.69 ± 0.12, and 0.25 ± 0.08 mg/mL for DPPH, ABTS, FRAP, and NO, respectively. Following in vitro digestion, the antioxidant activities of UPGP were decreased during the gastric phase compared to those of undigested UPGP, with an increase occurring during the duodenal phase in all assays. However, the reducing power was unchanged after in vitro digestion. Furthermore, UPGP showed protective activity against oxidative DNA damage both undigested, after saliva and duodenal phase of digestion. These results indicate that the antioxidant and DNA protection activities of UPGP may be pH-dependent and assay specific.