Effect of Enzymatic Digestion of Protein Derivatives Obtained from Mucuna pruriens L. on Production of Proinflammatory Mediators by BALB/c Mouse Macrophages

Inflammation is considered to be a major risk factor for the pathogenesis of chronic non-communicable diseases. Macrophages are important immune cells, which regulate inflammation and host defense by secretion of proinflammatory mediators. Obtaining biopeptides by enzymatic hydrolysis adds value to proteins of vegetative origin, such as Mucuna pruriens L. The present study evaluated the effect of enzymatic digestion of protein derivatives obtained from M . pruriens L. on the production of proinflammatory mediators by BALB/c mouse macrophages. Five different molecular weight peptide fractions were obtained (F > 10, 5–10, 3–5, 1–3, and