Olive (Olea europaea L.) seed as new source of cholesterol-lowering bioactive peptides: elucidation of their mechanism of action in HepG2 cells and their trans-epithelial transport in differentiated Caco-2 cells

The production of olive oil has important economic repercussions in Mediterranean countries but also a considerable impact on the environment. This production generates enormous quantities of waste and by-products, which can be exploited as new raw materials to obtain innovative ingredients and therefore make the olive production more sustainable. In a previous study, we decided to foster olive seeds by generating two protein hydrolysates using food-grade enzymes, alcalase (AH) and papain (PH). These hydrolysates have shown, both in vitro and at the cellular level, antioxidant and antidiabetic activities, being able to inhibit the activity of the DPP-IV enzyme and modulate the secretion of GLP-1. Given the multifunctional behavior of peptides, both hydrolysates displayed dual hypocholesterolemic activity, inhibiting the activity of HMGCoAR and impairing the PPI of PCSK9/LDLR, with an IC50 equal to 0.61 mg/mL and 0.31 mg/mL for AH and PH, respectively. Furthermore, both samples restored LDLR protein levels on the membrane of human hepatic HepG2 cells, increasing the uptake of LDL from the extracellular environment. Since intestinal bioavailability is a key component of bioactive peptides, the second objective of this work is to evaluate the capacity of AH and PH peptides to be transported by differentiated human intestinal Caco-2 cells. The peptides transported by intestinal cells have been analyzed using mass spectrometry analysis, identifying a mixture of stable peptides that may represent new ingredients with multifunctional qualities for the development of nutraceuticals and functional foods to delay the onset of metabolic syndrome, promoting the principles of environmental sustainability.