VPP
(Val–Pro–Pro) and IPP (Ile–Pro–Pro)
are two famous antihypertensive peptides with possible benefits for
type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The study was aimed to investigate
the effect of peptide analogues of VPP and IPP on glucose uptake activity
in L6 myotubes. The analogues were designed by replacing the N-terminal,
middle, or C-terminal amino acid residues of VPP and IPP with one
amino acid at a time from five amino acid groups (polar, nonpolar,
basic, acidic, and aromatic amino acids). Among 26 tripeptides tested,
IQP, IPQ, VPE, and VEP showed significantly higher glucose uptake
activity than their parent peptides, and all were successfully released
from rice proteins at the contents of 5415.82 ± 63.34, 1586.77
± 14.94, 354.07 ± 6.56, and 596.10 ± 2.32 ng/mg dry
basis, respectively, and quantified by liquid chromatography–mass
spectrometry (MS)/MS using multiple reaction monitoring. All four
peptides were shown to promote glucose uptake via the adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase pathway accompanied
by glucose transporter type 4 (Glut4) translocation rather than the
insulin signaling pathway.