Selenoprotein hydrolysates from chickpea (Cicer arietnum L.) as a cosmeceutical ingredient

Skin aging represents a health problem due to the decreased protection function of the skin which leads to cuts and slow wound healing capacity, resulting in infections and skin diseases from dermatitis to skin cancer. About 80-90% of skin aging is related to chronic exposure to UV radiation, also called photoaging. During this process, reactive oxygen species (ROS) are overproduced, resulting in oxidative stress in the cells that activate extracellular matrix (ECM) protein degrading enzymes, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Also, ROS may increase inflammation that also leads to degradation of collagen and elastin. Therefore, there is a need to find novel ingredients that can act against oxidative stress, inflammation, and inhibit the activity of MMPs. Chickpea selenoprotein hydrolysates have shown promising antioxidant activities which can be pontentially used in the regulation of skin aging. In this work, selenoprotein hydrolysates were obtained from the germination of kabuli type chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) with 2 mg of Na2SeO3 per 100 g of seeds for 48 hours. The resulting selenoprotein extract was hydrolyzed with alcalase, pepsin and trypsin for 180 min. An antioxidant screening, using DPPH, ORAC, iron chelation, superoxide and hydroxyl radical assays, was assessed to choose the best parameters to obtain the highest antioxidant hydrolysates. These parameters were pepsin for 60 min. The chickpea flour, the protein extract and hydrolysates were characterized by inductive-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and tricine-sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamyde gel electrophoresis (Tricine-SDS-PAGE) to quantify selenium, observe chemical changes in extraction process and size profile of proteins after hydrolysis, respectively. Also, selenoprotein hydrolysates were fractionated using a membrane cutoff of 10 kDa to observe the activity depending on their size. The hydrolysates presented the highest inhibitory activity of collagenase and elastase at 3 µg/mL, as well as the cellular antioxidant activity (CAA) in human dermal fibroblasts (HDFa). Moreover, anti-inflammatory activity was shown at a concentration of 12.5 3 µg/mL. Finally, the hydrolysates were tested in an in vitro photoaging assay that consisted in the irradiation of UVA in three doses of 5 J cm-2, revealing that the hydrolysates increased the synthesis of collagen type I without UVA radiation. In summary, these selenoprotein hydrolysates are potential cosmeceutical ingredients for skin aging due to their effect in the different pathways that activates this condition as oxidative stress, inflammation, MMPs activity, besides the activation of collagen synthesis.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8546-6832