Antioxidant and antibacterial activities of modified crab shell bioactive peptides by Maillard reaction

In this study, crab shell bioactive peptides were heated with fructose. The antioxidant and antibacterial activities of the crab shell bioactive peptides and the derived Maillard reaction products were evaluated. The results showed that fructose modification was helpful in increasing the antioxidant activity and brought strong antibacterial activity to the crab shell bioactive peptides. The increase of antioxidant activity was a positive correlation with the fructose concentration and pH. And the increase of antibacterial activity was a positive correlation with the reaction pH. In addition, as suggested by the result of molecular weight distribution, the active components in the Maillard reaction product might be the 2–5 kDa fractions. The results indicated that the Maillard reaction was a very effective method for improving the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of bioactive peptides.