• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.417-425
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• 2009

The potential utility of fish scales to the functional food industry has been investigated due to its antioxidant and antihypertensive characteristics. In this study, we report on the reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging and angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activities of gelatin hydrolysates processed from Branchiostegus japonicus scales, which are also high in protein content (about 46.1%). We prepared the enzymatic gelatin hydrolysates with four proteases (${\alpha}$-chymotrypsin, Alcalase, Neutrase and trypsin) from B. japonicus scale gelatin, which was prepared according to different reaction times, substrate/enzyme ratios and substrate concentrations. The enzymatic hydrolytic degrees of the gelatin increased time-dependently up to 6 hrs, while the Alcalase gelatin hydrolysates showed the highest hydrolysis degrees compared to the others. Furthermore, gelatin hydrolysates of Neutrase and ${\alpha}$-chymotrypsin showed the highest DPPH radical and $H_2O_2$ scavenging activities ($IC_{50}$ value; 9.18 mg/mL and 9.74 mg/mL), respectively. However, the activities were not significant (P<0.05). We also observed that the four gelatin hydrolysates significantly increased ACE inhibitory activities from approximately 20% to 60% (P<0.05), Among them, the Alcalase gelatin hydrolysates showed the higher ACE inhibitory activity ($IC_{50}$ value; 0.73 mg/mL) compared to the others. These results suggest that the enzymatic gelatin hydrolysates prepared from B. japonicus scales may possess a potentially useful function as an ACE inhibitory agent. As such, the utility of B. japonicus scales should be given due consideration for application in the functional food industry.