Pea Protein Derived Bioactive Peptides Stimulate Bone Health Promoting Effects

• Author / Creator

  Arora, Harshita

• Osteoporosis is a bone disease affecting 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men in Canada. One possible approach to prevent this disease is to stimulate the activity of osteoblasts (bone forming cells) using food derived bioactive peptides. As a sought-after pea protein, we previously identified a tripeptide LRW (Leu-Arg-Trp). Therefore, the 1st objective of this thesis was to investigate the effect of LRW on promoting osteoblastic activity using pre-osteoblast MC3T3-E1 cells.
  LRW treatment (50 µM) caused a significant increase in cell proliferation (4-fold increase), stimulated differentiation by increased the levels of type 1 collagen (COL1 A2; 3-fold increase), alkaline phosphatase (2-fold increase), runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2; 2-fold increase), as well as promoted mineralization evidenced by Alizarin-S red staining and nodule formation. LRW treatment also and increased osteoprotegrin levels (OPG; 2-fold increase), thereby decreasing bone resorption. Furthermore, LRW also significantly increased the wound healing based on cell migration assay.
  Since LRW was identified from pea protein hydrolysate, the second objective of the thesis was to determine the osteoblastic activity of pea protein hydrolysates using human osteoblast cells (U-2OS). Among seven pea protein hydrolysates prepared, three (prepared by chymotrypsin, alcalase and thermolysin, respectively) showed better ability to increase the level of COL1 A2 and thus selected for further study. Pea protein hydrolysate up-regulated COL1 A2 (2-fold increase), procollagen (1.25-fold increase), nuclear factor erythroid 2- related factor 2 levels (NRF2; 1.35-fold increase), C-X-Chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4; 2-fold increase) and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3; 1.5-fold increase) in alcalase prepared hydrolysate. Furthermore, increased mRNA and protein expression of STAT3 (3.5-fold increase) and CXCR4 (4-fold increase) respectively in alcalase prepared sample were further validated by qRT-PCR. Pea protein hydrolysate also decreased the levels of matrix metalloproteinase MMP-1 and MMP-9, indicating the inhibitory role on the degradation of bone matrix.
  This research demonstrated the presence of bioactive peptides in pea protein that can positively modulate the activity of osteoblasts, indicating the potential of pea derived peptides for the prevention or treatment of osteoporosis.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Bone health
  • Tripeptide LRW
  • Pea protein hydrolysate

• Graduation date

  Spring 2020

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-ws1n-gp07

• License

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