Antioxidant Properties of Tripeptides Revealed by a Comparison of Six Different Assays

Free radical scavenging activities of two series of tripeptide libraries were investigated using ABTS, DPPH, and ORAC assays. Two Tyr-containing tripeptides showed higher scavenging activities against the hydrophilic ABTS and AAPH radicals than two His-containing tripeptides, showing that Tyr residues play important roles in free radical scavenging activity. Higher concentrations of tripeptides were required to reveal apparent DPPH radical scavenging activity. The antioxidant activities of the tripeptide libraries obtained from this study were compared with previous results obtained using several assays, including antioxidant activity against the peroxidation of linoleic acid, FRAP assay, and peroxynitrite (PN) scavenging activity. The antioxidant activity of the tripeptides against the peroxidation of linoleic acid showed high correlations with the ABTS and ORAC assays (correlation coefficients (R) = 0.725 and 0.731, respectively), and low correlations with FRAP, PN scavenging, and DPPH assays. The highest correlation was found between the ABTS and ORAC assays (R = 0.905).