Antihypertensive effect of oligo-peptide derived from hen's eggs

By treating hen's eggs with a commercial crude enzyme preparation having bo th protease and lipase activities, an oligo-peptide was obtained. Its molec ular weight was presumed to be 1000 Da or less. The concentration of the ol igo-peptide for inhibiting 50% of angiotensin-I converting enzyme (ACE) act ivity (IC50) was 1.22 mg/ml. Some experimental studies have so far been car ried out to investigate antihypertensive effect of ACE inhibitory peptides derived from several foods. In most of those studies, however, antihyperten sive effect was evaluated after administrating peptides to spontaneously hy pertensive rats (SHR) only once. Few studies have been carried out to exami ne the long-term effect of ACE inhibitory peptides on blood pressure, inclu ding the peptide derived from hen's eggs. In this study, the oligo-peptide derived from hen's eggs was orally administered to SHR for 12 weeks and exa mined for its antihypertensive effect. The blood pressure of the oligo-pept ide dosage groups was significantly lower than that of a non-dosage (contro l) group. In addition, serum ACE activity of the oligo-peptide dosage group s was significantly lowered than that of the control group. These results s how that the oligo-peptide derived from hen's eggs can be used as physiolog ically functional foods and pharmaceutics to control essential hypertension .