Quantification of the angiotensin-converting enzyme-inhibiting tripeptides Val-Pro-Pro and Ile-Pro-Pro in hard, semi-hard and soft cheeses

• Published in: International dairy journal 2007-08, Vol.17 (8), p.968-975
• Main Authors: Bütikofer, Ueli, Meyer, Jacques, Sieber, Robert, Wechsler, Daniel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ACE-inhibiting peptide; antihypertensive agents; Biological and medical sciences; Cheese; enzyme inhibitors; food analysis; Food industries; functional foods; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; hard cheeses; high performance liquid chromatography; in vitro studies; IPP; mass spectrometry; metabolic inhibitors; Milk and cheese industries. Ice creams; new methods; renin; semisoft cheeses; soft cheeses; Swiss cheese; Tripeptide; tripeptides; VPP
• ISSN: 0958-6946; 1879-0143
• DOI: 10.1016/j.idairyj.2006.11.003

A new high performance liquid chromatography with subsequent triple mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS 3) method for the quantitative determination of Val-Pro-Pro (VPP) and Ile-Pro-Pro (IPP) was applied in a series of 44 traditional cheeses. Additionally, inhibition of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) was measured in vitro by determination of IC 50 values. The correlation coefficients between the IC 50 values and the sum of the two peptides VPP and IPP in hard, semi-hard and in the group of soft cheeses were at r = - 0.797 , −0.580 and −0.357, respectively, suggesting that the high ACE-inhibiting activity found in the water soluble extracts of some investigated hard cheeses was mainly due to the presence of these two tripeptides. Concentrations of VPP and IPP were in the range of 0–224 mg kg −1 and 0–95 mg kg −1, respectively, indicating that some cheese varieties contain similar concentrations of VPP and IPP to recently developed fermented milk products with blood-pressure lowering capacity.