Boundary-Constrained Optimization of Tilapia ( Oreochromis Niloticus ) Skin Hydrolysis for the Recovery of a Bioactive Hydrophobic Peptide-Enriched Fraction with Antioxidant, Antinociceptive, and Anti-In
Siraj Salman Mohammad, Bruno Guimarães Marinho, Wallace Martins de Araujo, Roberto Laureano-Melo, Adib Ali Saad, Maria Ivone Martins Jacintho Barbosa, José Lucena Barbosa JuniorAbstract
This study optimized the enzymatic hydrolysis of tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) skin using Aspergillus oryzae protease via response surface methodology. Under optimized conditions (pH 6.87, 55.50 °C, 3.70% enzyme-to-protein ratio), a maximum degree of hydrolysis of 28.75% was achieved. Downstream fractionation using AmberLite XAD-7HP macroporous resin successfully recovered a targeted hydrophobic peptide-enriched fraction (HPEF) via ethanol desorption with a 47.2% specific yield. Crucially, HPEF presented a significantly higher antioxidant capacity than the crude enzymatic protein hydrolysate (CEPH) and hydrophilic peptide-enriched fraction (LPEF) in both DPPH and FRAP assays. In preclinical murine evaluations, oral administration of the HPEF significantly attenuated acute inflammation and peripheral nociception, reducing inflammatory-phase paw-licking time by up to 58.8% and inhibiting histamine-induced paw edema by 46.3%. These findings demonstrate an efficient strategy for recovering highly functional biopeptides for biomedical and food industry applications.