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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Nutritional Immunology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1544299
Preparation and characterization of immunopeptides isolated from pig spleen and evaluation of their immunomodulatory properties in vitro and in vivo
Provisionally accepted
Minhao Xia 1
Chong Ling 1 Hui Ye 1
Shujie Liang 1 Qingyun Cao 1
Weiwei Wang 1 Changming Zhang 1 Zemin Dong 1 Min Tian 2
Zuo Jianjun 1*
Yongwen Zhu 1*- 1 South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China
- 2 Modern agricultural college, Xiangxi National Vocational and Technical College, Jishou University, Jishou, Hunan, China
The importance of small bioactive peptides derived from pig spleen have been used to enhance immune responses and support intestinal health. However, there is a lack of information regarding the conformational relationship and their effects on immune function of pig spleen proteins (PSPs).The objective of this study was to prepare and assess the immunomodulatory characteristics of immunopeptides from PSP. Firstly, enzymatic hydrolysates from PSP were prepared using alkaline protease and aminopeptidase, and small hydrolysate fractions with a <3 kDa were separated by SDS-PAGE and GPC. The bioactive peptides were then identified at peaks 5 to 7 (PSP-5, 6 and 7) by HPLC and TOF-MS, which were mainly composed of Pro-Glu-Leu by LC-MS. The PSP-5 and PSP-6 pronounced greater beneficial effects on cell viability and nitric oxide (NO) production than PSP-7 in macrophage, and PSP-5 exhibited a higher immunomodulatory ability than PSP-6. In vivo, the oral administration of 25-50 mg PSP-5/kg body weight (BW) protected against cyclophosphamide (CTX)induced immunosuppression in spleen and intestine of mouse, as evidenced by increased cytokine and sIgA productions. In conclusion, a novel set of bioactive immunopeptides derived from PSP through enzymatic hydrolysis could enhance immunomodulatory properties.
Keywords: pig spleen protein, immunopeptides, Enzymatic hydrolysis, Immunosuppression, Bioactive peptides
Received: 12 Dec 2024; Accepted: 19 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Xia, Ling, Ye, Liang, Cao, Wang, Zhang, Dong, Tian, Jianjun and Zhu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Zuo Jianjun, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China
Yongwen Zhu, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.