High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) fingerprints and primary structure identification of corn peptides by HPLC-diode array detection and HPLC-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

Corn peptides (CPs) are reported to have many biological functions, such as facilitating alcohol metabolism, antioxidation, antitumor, antihypertension, and hepatoprotection. To develop a method for quality control, the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system was applied. Twenty-eight common peaks were found in all the CPs of corn samples from Enshi, China, based on which, a fingerprinting chromatogram was established for use in quality control in future research. Subsequently, the major chemical constituents of these common peaks were identified respectively using the HPLC-diode-array detection electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (DAD-ESI-MS/MS) system, and 48 peptide fractions were determined ultimately. This was the first time for the majority of these peptides to be reported, and many of them contained amino acids of glutamine (Q), L and A, which might play an important role in the exhibition of the bioactivities of CPs. Many peptides had a similar primary structure to the peptides which had been proven to be bioactive such as facilitating alcohol metabolism, scavenging free radicals, and inhibiting lipid peroxidation. This systematical analysis of the primary structure of CPs facilitated subsequent studies on the relationship between the structures and functions, and could accelerate holistic research on CPs.

A Comprehensive Review of Corn Protein‐derived Bioactive Peptides: Production, Characterization, Bioactivities, and Transport Pathways

“…The results of electrophoresis analysis such as sodium dodecyl‐sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS‐PAGE) can reveal the MW distribution of corn protein or hydrolysates (Malumba et al., ). Furthermore, the mass spectrometry (MS) technologies have already become a common method to analyze the amino acid sequences of CPs (Wang et al., ; Wang, He, Zhang, Li, & Ma, ). The primary structure of CPs can be identified by RP‐HPLC‐MS/MS (Ma et al., ; Wang et al., ).…”

“…Wang et al. () employed an RP‐HPLC‐MS/MS with a DAD detector to systematically identify the primary structures of CPs, and 48 peptide fractions were obtained.…”

“…(Wang et al., ) found that Tyr‐Phe‐Cys‐Leu‐Thr from CGM exhibits excellent DPPH and superoxide anion radical‐scavenging capacities and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC). Some novel peptides from CGM such as Phe‐Pro‐Leu‐Glu‐Met‐Met‐Pro‐Phe, Gln‐Gln‐Pro‐Gln‐Pro‐Trp, Cys‐Ser‐Gln‐Ala‐Pro‐Leu‐Ala, and Gly‐Leu‐Leu‐Leu‐Pro‐His have also been observed to be good antioxidants in succession (Jin et al., ; Wang et al., ; Wang et al., ; Zheng et al., ). Importantly, Li, Han, and Chen () found that the antioxidant capacity of CPs is closely connected with their MWs, and CPs with a MW of 0.5 to 1.5 kDa exhibit superior antioxidant activity.…”

Analysis of α‐helix unfolding in the pine nut peptide Lys‐Cys‐His‐Lys‐Pro induced by pulsed electric field

“…3 Wang et al reported 28 different polypeptide sequences that possessed many biological functions, such as antioxidant activity, antihypertensive effects, alcohol metabolism and antitumor effects. 4 Other studies have indicated that the absorptive rate of intact peptides from protein hydrolysates may even be faster than that of free amino acids and that the energy consumption required to assimilate peptides may be lower than that required to assimilate equivalent amino acids. 5 Therefore, the investigation of small peptides with biological activities is critical for studies of proteins.…”

Quality evaluation of Shenmaidihuang Pills based on the chromatographic fingerprints and simultaneous determination of seven bioactive constituents

“…Chromatographic fingerprint analysis has been accepted as a strategy for quality assessment of herbal medicines and preparations by the WHO, the FDA, and China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA). It combines chromatographic techniques, such as CE , GC and HPLC , with sensitive and selective detectors like photodiode array detection (PDA) , evaporative light‐scatter detection (ELSD) and MS to construct specific patterns of recognition for multiple compounds in herbal drugs. The entire pattern of compounds can then be evaluated to determine not only the absence or presence of desired markers or actives but the complete set of ratios of all detectable analytes .…”