Production of ace inhibitory peptides by digestion of chickpea legumin with alcalase

Short peptides from different sources have proved to be very efficient inhibitors of the angiotensin I-converting enzyme, an enzyme with a major role in the regulation of blood pressure. These peptides are of therapeutic value, so that the possibility of obtaining such peptides by treatment of chickpea legumin with the protease alcalase has been explored. Legumin is the main storage protein in chickpea seeds. Treatment of legumin with alcalase yielded a hydrolysate that inhibited the angiotensin I-converting enzyme with an IC50 of 0.18 mg/ml. Fractionation of this hydrolysate by reverse phase chromatography afforded six inhibitory peptides with IC50 values ranging from 0.011 to 0.021 mg/ml. All these peptides contain the amino acid methionine and are also rich in other hydrophobic amino acids. These results demonstrate that hydrolysates of chickpea legumin obtained by treatment with alcalase are a good source of peptides with angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitory activity.