Nutricosmetics: A new frontier in bioactive peptides' research toward skin aging

Food derived bioactive peptides are small protein fragments (2-20 amino acids long) that can exhibit health benefits, beyond basic nutrition. For example, food bioactive peptides can act as physiological modulators with hormone or drug-like activities including anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and the ability to inhibit enzymes related to chronic disease metabolism. Recently, bioactive peptides have been studied for their potential role as nutricosmetics. For example, bioactive peptides can impart skin-aging protection toward extrinsic (i.e., environmental and sun UV-ray damage) and intrinsic (i.e., natural cell or chronological aging) factors. Specifically, bioactive peptides have demonstrated antioxidant and antimicrobial activates toward reactive oxygen species (ROS) and pathogenic bacteria associated with skin diseases, respectively. The anti-inflammatory properties of bioactive peptides using in vivo models has also been reported, where peptides have shown to decreased the expression of IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β, interferon-γ (INF-γ), and interleukin-17 (IL-17) in mice models. This chapter will discuss the main factors that trigger skin-aging processes, as well as provide examples of in vitro, in vivo, and in silico applications of bioactive peptides in relation to nutricosmetic applications.

Antioxidant capacity and identification of radical scavenging peptides from Crema de Chiapas, Fresco and Cocido cheeses

Bioactive peptides may positively impact bodily functions. One of these are the antioxidant peptides which are well documented for a wide variety of food matrices, mostly from plant sources. Nevertheless, information of antioxidant milk-derived peptides is still a little-known field. The present study was aimed to evaluating the antioxidant capacity (AC) in vitro of water soluble extracts < 3 kDa (WSE) from three artisanal Mexican cheeses: Crema de Chiapas (CrC), Fresco (FC) and Cocido (CC). This study was carried out for cheeses of different days of storage (0, 5, 10, 15, and 20) at 4 °C. AC was assayed to the respective WSE by 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) diamoniun salt (ABTS) and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) methods and those WSE that showed the most antioxidant capacity from each cheese were analyzed by using RP-HPLC/MS to identify and characterize the novel specific peptides. All the WSE analyzed show antioxidant capacity, especially those from CrC and CC which display the highest AC at 15 days of storage. Regarding to WSE from FC, the AC was constant during storage. Identified structures reveal that these novel peptides possess high content of specific amino acids, mainly proline, valine, leucine and phenylalanine, of which it has already been shown antioxidant properties. This study demonstrate that these artisanal Mexican cheeses are sources of potential antioxidant peptides.

Encapsulation of bioactive peptides: a strategy to improve the stability, protect the nutraceutical bioactivity and support their food applications

In recent decades, bioactive peptides have become an emerging field of interest in the scientific community as well as the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics industries. A growing body of research indicates that consumption of bioactive peptides may play a vital role in health through their broad spectrum of bioactivity such as antioxidant, antihypertensive, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and anti-proliferative activities. In addition, bioactive peptides can be used as food preservatives due to their antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. However, some factors limit their nutraceutical and commercial applications, including easy chemical degradation (e.g., pH, enzymatic), food matrix interaction, low water-solubility, hygroscopicity, and potential bitter taste. Bearing that in mind, the encapsulation of bioactive peptides in different materials can help overcome these challenges. Studies have demonstrated that encapsulation of bioactive peptides increases their bioactivity, improves their stability, sensory properties, increases solubility, and decreases hygroscopicity. However, there is limited scientific evidence about the bioavailability and food matrix interactions of encapsulated peptides. Besides, the diverse colloidal systems used to encapsulate bioactive peptides have shown stability and good encapsulation efficiency. This review provides an overview of current advances in the encapsulation of bioactive peptides, considering the technology, developments, and innovations in the last lustrum.

In Silico Prediction and In Vitro Assessment of Multifunctional Properties of Postbiotics Obtained From Two Probiotic Bacteria

In this study, a global metabolite profile using Raman spectroscopy analysis was obtained in order to predict, by an in silico prediction of activity spectra for substance approach, the bioactivities of the intracellular content (IC) and cell wall (CW) fractions obtained from Lactobacillus casei CRL 431 and Bacillus coagulans GBI-30 strains. Additionally, multifunctional in vitro bioactivity of IC and CW fractions was also assessed. The metabolite profile revealed a variety of compounds (fatty acids, amino acids, coenzyme, protein, amino sugars), with significant probable activities (Pa > 0.7) as immune-stimulant, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, antiproliferative, immunomodulator, and antineoplastic, among others. Moreover, in vitro assays exhibited that both IC and CW fractions presented angiotensin-converting enzyme-inhibitory (> 90%), chelating (> 79%), and antioxidant (ca. 22-57 cellular antioxidant activity units) activities. Our findings based on in silico and in vitro analyses suggest that L. casei CRL 431 and B. coagulans GBI-30 strains appear to be promising sources of postbiotics and may impart health benefits by their multifunctional properties.

Protective role of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts as dietary carcinogen-binding agents - a review

The importance of food contaminants in the link between diet and cancer has been widely demonstrated. Therefore, different physical and chemical strategies for the control of human exposure to such dietary carcinogens has been explored; however, most of these strategies are complex, costly, and have low efficiency which limited their applications. Hence, microbiological methods have been receiving more attention. Recent in vitro and in vivo studies have indicated that lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeast may act as dietary carcinogen-binding agents. This review describes the promising protective role of strains belonging mainly to the Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium and Saccharomyces genera by acting as dietary carcinogen-binding agents. This property suggests that these microorganisms may have a protective role by reducing the bioaccessibility of dietary carcinogens, thereby decreasing their toxic effects. The mechanisms by which the binding process takes place have not been completely elucidated; thus, the possible underlying mechanisms and factors influencing carcinogens-binding will be addressed.

Identification of chia seed (Salvia hispanica L.) peptides with enzyme inhibition activity towards skin-aging enzymes

Chia (Salvia hispanica) seed peptides have drawn attention because of their antioxidant, antihypertensive and anti-inflammatory activities, making them ideal candidates for development of cosmeceutical skin products. However, there are no preceding reports that address their aging-related enzyme inhibitory activities. The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro and in silico inhibitory activity of chia seed peptides towards the main aging-related enzymes. Enzyme-inhibition activity of < 3 kDa chia seed peptides towards collagenase, hyaluronidase, tyrosinase, and elastase was evaluated. Further fractions were obtained by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and re-tested for enzyme inhibitory activity. Peptide sequences were identified from the most effective fraction and used for in silico analysis. The < 3 kDa peptides exhibited inhibitory activities towards elastase (65.32%, IC₅₀ = 0.43 mg/mL), tyrosinase (58.74%, IC₅₀ = 0.66 mg/mL), hyaluronidase (26.96%, IC₅₀ = 1.28 mg/mL), and collagenase (28.90%, IC₅₀ = 1.41 mg/mL). They showed mixed-type inhibition patterns towards elastase and hyaluronidase, while a non-competitive inhibition pattern was observed towards collagenase and tyrosinase. Fraction II obtained by SEC, showed higher enzyme inhibitory activity. Seven peptides were identified in this fraction (APHWYTN, DQNPRSF, GDAHWAY, GDAHWTY, GDAHWVY, GFEWITF, and KKLKRVYV), which according to in silico analysis, possess 19-29 enzyme-peptide pair interactions towards elastase and three peptide sequences shared homology sequence (GDAHW). These results demonstrate that peptides from chia seeds may contribute in the improvement of skin health by offering protection against aging-related enzymes by preventing degradation of the protein matrix on the skin; however, further in vivo studies are needed to evaluate its actual capability.

Modulatory Effect of the Intracellular Content of Lactobacillus casei CRL 431 Against the Aflatoxin B1-Induced Oxidative Stress in Rats

It has been recognized that lactic acid bacteria exhibit antioxidant properties, which have been mainly endorsed to the intact viable bacteria. However, recent studies have shown that intracellular content (IC) may also be good sources of antioxidative metabolites, which may potentially contribute to oxidative homeostasis in vivo. Hence, the modulatory effect of the intracellular content of Lactobacillus casei CRL 431 (IC431) on aflatoxin B₁ (AFB₁)-induced oxidative stress in rats was evaluated on the basis of its influence on hepatic lipid peroxidation (LPO), antioxidant status-antioxidant capacity (TAC), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities; and on the oxidative stress index (OSi). Results demonstrated that CAT and GPx activities, and TAC, determined in plasma samples, were significantly (P < 0.05) higher in rats treated with AFB₁ plus IC431 (3.98 μM/min/mg protein, 1.88 μM/min/mg protein, and 238.7 μM Trolox equivalent, respectively) than AFB₁-treated rats (3.47 μM/min/mg protein, 1.46 μM/min/mg protein, and 179.7 μM Trolox equivalent, respectively). Furthermore, plasma and liver tissue samples from rats treated with AFB₁ plus IC431 showed significantly (P < 0.05) lower LPO values (52 and 51%, respectively) and OSi (59 and 51%, respectively) than AFB₁-treated rats. Hence, our results proved that the intracellular content of Lact. casei CRL 431 contains metabolites that are capable to modulate the antioxidant defense systems in living organism, which may help to ameliorate the damage associated to AFB₁-induced oxidative stress.

Potential role of natural bioactive peptides for development of cosmeceutical skin products

In recent years, consumers' demand for cosmeceutical products with protective and therapeutic functions derived from natural sources have caused this industry to search for alternative active ingredients. Bioactive peptides have a wide spectrum of bioactivities, which make them ideal candidates for development of these cosmeceutical products. In vitro studies have demonstrated that bioactive peptides (obtained as extracts, hydrolysates, and/or individual peptides) exhibit biological properties including antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory activities, in addition to their properties of inhibiting aging-related enzymes such as elastase, collagenase, tyrosinase and hyaluronidase. Some studies report multifunctional bioactive peptides that can simultaneously affect, beneficially, multiple physiological pathways in the skin. Moreover, in vivo studies have revealed that topical application or consumption of bioactive peptides possess remarkable skin protection. These properties suggest that bioactive peptides may contribute in the improvement of skin health by providing specific physiological functions, even though the mechanisms underlying the protective effect have not been completely elucidated. This review provides an overview of in vitro, in silico and in vivo properties of bioactive peptides with potential use as functional ingredients in the cosmeceutical field. It also describes the possible mechanisms involved as well as opportunities and challenges associated with their application.