Preparation and Antioxidant Activity of Tea Seed Protein Hydrolysates

Tea seed proteins were hydrolyzed with alcalase to obtain antioxidant hydrolysates. Response surface methodology was adopted to optimize the enzymatic hydrolysis conditions, and the antioxidant activity of the hydrolysates was measured by using various antioxidant assays. As a result, the optimal enzymatic hydrolysis conditions were obtained as follows: enzyme dosage of 5800 U/g, substrate concentration of 3.4%, pH 8.7, hydrolysis temperature of 57 ℃, and hydrolysis time of 5.0 h. At 10.0 mg/mL, the scavenging activity of tea seed protein hydrolysates against DPPH free radical, ·OH and O2 ―· were 73.92%, 73.02% and 66.54%, respectively. Furthermore, they possessed reducing power and inhibitory effect on linoleic acid auto-oxidation, and their scavenging activity was concentration dependent.