Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitory activity of milk protein hydrolysates: Effect of substrate, enzyme and time of hydrolysis

Nine milk protein substrates were hydrolysed in vitro with five proteases for various times (0, 3, 6, and 24 h), and the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory activity of hydrolysates was assessed. Overall, the casein substrates gave rise to hydrolysates with significantly higher ACE-inhibitory activity than the whey protein (WP) substrates (85% vs. 79%). No significant difference between 3 and 24 h of hydrolysis was found. A reasonable correlation was found between the ACE inhibition of the 6 h hydrolysates determined in vitro and estimated by in silico modelling. The highest ACE-inhibitory activity was found in hydrolysates made with thermolysin followed by proteinase K, trypsin, pepsin and Bacillus licheniformis protease. The IC50 values for thermolysin hydrolysates of caseins and WPs were 45–83 and 90–400 μg mL−1, respectively, with α-lactalbumin giving the highest inhibitory activity. Thermolysin, proteinase K and trypsin were useful for the release of highly potent ACE-inhibitory peptides from both WPs and caseins.