Skip to main content
ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Western Regional Research Center » Healthy Processed Foods Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #329745
Research Project: New Sustainable Processing Technologies to Produce Healthy, Value-Added Foods from Specialty Crops

Location: Healthy Processed Foods Research

Title: Effect of foxtail millet protein hydrolysates on lowering blood pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats

Author
item CHEN, JING - University Of California
item DUAN, WEI - University Of California
item REN, XIN - China Agricultural University
item WANG, CHAO - China Agricultural University
item Pan, Zhongli
item DIAO, XIANMIN - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences
item SHEN, QUN - China Agricultural University

Submitted to: European Journal of Nutrition
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/25/2016
Publication Date: 7/1/2016
Citation: Chen, J., Duan, W., Ren, X., Wang, C., Pan, Z., Diao, X., Shen, Q. 2016. Effect of foxtail millet protein hydrolysates on lowering blood pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats. European Journal of Nutrition. 2016:1-10. doi:10.1007/s00394-016-1252-7.

Interpretive Summary: High blood pressure (BP) is the leading independent factor of cardiovascular diseases. The angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor is one of the main drugs used to treat high BP because ACE can modulate BP by converting the inactive angiotensin I (Ang I) into the potent vasoconstrictive Ang II. Currently many efficient ACE inhibitory peptides have already been confirmed from both plant- and animal-derived protein. In addition, both fermentation and extrusion are approaches to enhance the ACE inhibitory activity in food production. This study investigated the potential antihypertensive effect of different protein hydrolysates derived from foxtail millet and illuminated the possible mechanism involved. Results showed that all of three protein hydrolysates can inhibit the serum ACE activity and decrease the Ang II levels.

Technical Abstract: The objective of this study was to determine the effect of foxtail millet protein hydrolysates on lowering blood pressure in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). The protein of foxtail millet after extruding or fermenting and the raw foxtail millet was extracted and hydrolyzed by digestive protease to generate angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptides. The potential antihypertensive effect of protein hydrolysates from foxtail millet in SHRs was investigated. After 4 weeks of treatment with 200 mg peptides/kg of body weight of protein hydrolysates, blood pressure was lowered significantly and the raw and extruded samples were more effective than the fermented samples. The serum ACE activity and angiotensin II levels in the treatment groups were signi'cantly lower than that of the control. The percent heart weight decreased in the treatment groups. Thus, ingestion of foxtail millet protein hydrolysates especially for the raw and extruded hydrolysates may ameliorate hypertension and alleviate related cardiovascular diseases.