Biologically active peptides isolated from dill Anethum graveolens L.

Abstract

Peptide mixtures with molecular weights of 1000-2000 Da and in vivo membrano trophic activity against mouse hepatocyte culture at very low concentrations were isolated from dill Anethum graveolens L. leaves. It has been found that plant peptides in aqueous solution formed larger nanosized particles of approx imately 90 nm with a secondary structure mainly composed of β structures and random coil structures. We demonstrated that peptides isolated from A. graveolens in vitro at an ultra low dosage affected the size of the area of pigmented cells of amphibian liver, which are analogous to Kupffer cells of the mammalian liver, using roller organotypic newt liver culture models.