Bovine Casein hyrolysis using green Ficus carica extract

The problem of casein digestion is seen in some cases specially, among infants. In this study, it is attempted to consider the hydrolysis of cow's milk casein by means of Ficin enzyme in green Fig extract. Cow's milk casein intolerance occurs in a considerable number of infants and without early diagnosis and food replacement can lead to complications like malnutrition and growth retardation. Hydrolysis of cow's milk casein by chemical and enzymatical reactions is one of the main strategies for production of hydrolyzed milk for allergic infants. In this study there has been an effort to use green fig proteases for cow's milk hydrolysis as a new and cheap source.

The aqueous extract was prepared from green fruit of F. carica using phosphate buffered saline. To evaluate the degree of hydrolysis, different concentrations of extract were added to casein and incubated for 1, 3 and 6 hours at various conditions including four buffering system including tris-HCl (pH 8.5) phosphate (pH 7), citrate (pH 5.5) and acetate (pH 4.5) buffers. Hydrolysis of casein was assessed by SDS-PAGE and band densitometry estimated using Scion lab soft ware.

The results indicated that fig extract could hydrolyze pure casein completely at ratio 1/100 (enzyme to substrate) for one or three hours and at 1/500 hydrolyzed casein partially at 6 hours at phosphate buffer. Therefore, phosphate buffer system is more suitable than other buffer systems for casein hydrolysis.

The results of this study showed that ficin can be used as a potential protease for the hydrolysis of milk casein which is used for nutritional targets.