Cytotoxic activity and genotoxicity of antioxidant WPC-hydrolysates and their probiotics compatibility as Potential Functional Feed Additive

Whey protein concentrate (WPC) is produced in large quantities by dairy industry. The enzymatic hydrolysis of WPC can produce antioxidant peptides and therefore, the dairy industry can develop functional additives based on its own products. In a previous work, antioxidant peptides produced by the trypsin hydrolysis of WPC 35 shown strong antioxidant activity. In the present work, micronucleus and comet assay tests were conducted in order to measure DNA damages produced by WPC-hydrolysates previously reported. Furthermore, cytotoxicity was determined in Vero C-76 and IEC-18 cells, while cell morphology was visualized using confocal microscopy. Tests conducted in vitro and in vivo revealed that WPC-hydrolysates at its active concentration had low toxicity and high biocompatibility. At the best of our knowledge, this is the first time in which cyto- and genotoxicity studies of WPC-hydrolysates were performed, providing in-depth insight into the toxicity of such new ingredients. Furthermore, the WPC-hydrolysates did not show antimicrobial activity against pathogens and present compatibility with different probiotic microorganisms such as lactic acid bacteria and yeasts. All the information presented here, is of great importance in order to reach a big goal which consist in the production of novel functional feed additives based on antioxidant peptides and probiotics.

Automated summary

The study focused on the cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of WPC-hydrolysates, revealing low toxicity and high biocompatibility at active concentrations. Additionally, WPC-hydrolysates were found to be compatible with probiotic microorganisms without antimicrobial activity against pathogens.