Antioxidant Activity of Crude Peptides Extracted from Dry-cured Jinhua Ham

This study was aimed to investigate the protective effects of Jinhua ham peptide extract against oxidative damage to PC12 cells induced by H2O2. Crude peptide C (CPC) presented strong scavenging activities against DPPH radicals in vitro. Exposing PC12 cells to H2O2 reduced the cell viability, the activities of antioxidant enzymes including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), while increased the cell apoptosis. Incubating cells with different concentrations of CPC (200 and 400 μg/mL) enhanced the cell viability and antioxidant enzyme activities. Intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation, caspase-3 activity and flow cytometric analysis revealed that CPC attenuated the cell apoptosis induced by H2O2. These cytoprotective effects of CPC on PC12 cells indicate that Jinhua ham extract might possess the ability to eliminate over-produced ROS in human.