Massive Science Popularization: A Functional Perspective of Oligopeptides
July 09, 2024
The inherent characteristic of oligopeptides is that they have a stronger functional activity than proteins from the same source. With the deepening of research and the improvement of people's understanding of oligopeptides, the role of oligopeptides in regulating human physiological functions is gradually revealed and recognized. People can also use these characteristics of oligopeptides to better regulate human health, especially chronic diseases, and design products with more comprehensive functions and more prominent effects, serving human health.
01
The regulatory effect of oligopeptides on immunity
The human immune system includes non-specific immunity and specific immunity, both of which are based on good protein nutrition. The manifestations of immune enhancement mainly include the enhancement of cellular immunity, humoral immunity, monocyte macrophage function, and NK cell activity. This is because the human immune system is composed of immune organs, immune cells, and immune molecules, and the normal activity of these three depends on reasonable nutrition, especially certain essential or non essential amino acids that play important roles in immune regulation, especially arginine, glutamine, lysine, etc. In addition, many bioactive peptides, such as antimicrobial peptides, interferon, and interleukin, can activate and regulate immune responses by increasing the proliferation of human peripheral lymphocytes, thereby exerting antibacterial effects. Oligopeptides regulate the body's immune function by enhancing the body's nutrition and supplementing essential amino acids. For example, marine oligopeptides and albumin peptides both have the effect of enhancing mouse immune function, which may be achieved by enhancing helper T cell function and stimulating cytokine secretion.
02
Antioxidant activity
The oxidation-reduction reaction is a fundamental reaction in the human body. When the body is stimulated by external factors or undergoes changes in metabolism, a large amount of oxygen free radicals can be produced, which can damage the normal tissue structure of the body. The body's antioxidant system plays an extremely important role in preventing such damage. The antioxidant activity of bioactive oligopeptides has received high attention, including myosin, glutathione (CSH), soy peptides, corn peptides, and marine fish collagen peptides. Experimental results have shown that oligopeptides have a stronger ability to scavenge hydroxyl groups, while peptides with high hydrolysis degree have a stronger ability to scavenge hydroxyl radicals. That is, the ability to scavenge hydroxyl radicals continuously increases with the increase of hydrolysis degree. However, peptides with antioxidant activity can be extracted from soybean and peanut proteins, and their antioxidant performance is further enhanced after protein hydrolysis into oligopeptides.
03
Anti fatigue
It is a normal phenomenon for the human body to experience a certain degree of fatigue after engaging in physical and mental labor, but it is an abnormal reaction if fatigue is felt after minor labor or if it is difficult to recover. Throughout the course of human history, the contradictory relationship between fatigue and anti fatigue has always existed. Due to the easy absorption and utilization of oligopeptides, when the excessive consumption of nutrients in the human body leads to an imbalance in the internal environment and various system functions are compromised, oligopeptides can quickly supplement the deficiency of active substances and nutrients in the body, thereby achieving a balance in the internal environment, improving metabolism, and effectively eliminating fatigue. If 500~600Da corn oligopeptide was used as a beverage to intervene in animal models, it was found that the corn oligopeptide beverage can significantly prolong the weight bearing swimming time of mice, and significantly reduce blood lactate and serum urea, indicating that it has the effect of enhancing physical strength and alleviating physical fatigue.
04
Delaying aging
Oligopeptides have a small molecular weight and a compact structure, which can effectively capture and remove excess oxygen free radicals and harmful substances in the body, inhibit the peroxide effect of free radicals, repair cell function, maintain body vitality, reduce pigment deposition, prevent and delay the appearance of senile plaques. In addition, active peptides can also enhance the body's immune system, delay cell aging, enhance learning and memory abilities, and delay the aging degree of the entire body.
05
Hepatoprotective effect
Corn oligopeptides have a certain preventive effect on alcoholic liver injury. Corn oligopeptides can prevent the increase of serum aminotransferase and alleviate alcohol induced liver histological damage. They can also counteract changes in serum SOD activity and MDA content, improve lipid metabolism abnormalities, and protect liver cell function.
06
Prevent three highs
Although oligopeptides have not yet shown the role of assisting in lowering blood lipids, the level of nitric oxide in the serum of hyperlipidemia model rats intervened by oligopeptides has increased, and plays the role of protecting the function of vascular endothelial cells through this mechanism, and plays the role of anti atherosclerosis by reducing the content of oxidative stress products in the liver.
Oligopeptides can reduce blood sugar and blood pressure, and improve the symptoms of diabetes and hypertension. Intervention with marine collagen peptide significantly improved pancreatic cell apoptosis in ovariectomized rats, alleviated inflammatory changes in pancreatic tissue, and inhibited tissue degeneration and necrotic changes. This may be one of the mechanisms underlying the hypoglycemic effect of marine collagen peptide. Oats themselves have a certain hypoglycemic effect; Oat oligopeptides have obvious hypoglycemic effect on diabetes rats, can reduce the fasting blood glucose level of diabetes rats, improve glucose tolerance, and have auxiliary hypoglycemic effect.
In summary, due to the unique chemical properties of oligopeptides, they have overcome many challenges encountered when traditional biological compounds and molecules are used as medical therapeutic agents, providing a new approach for medical treatment. Neobiotin oligopeptides are prepared from soy peptides, corn peptides, deep-sea fish and freshwater fish collagen peptides in a special ratio. At the same time, they enhance the anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and liver repair functions through the combination of taurine and B vitamins, providing a new intervention method for comprehensively improving the functional characteristics of the human body and preventing chronic diseases. It is worth further research and promotion.