VY6, a β-lactoglobulin-derived peptide, altered metabolic lipid pathways in the zebra fish liver.

Today enormous research efforts are being focused on alleviating the massive, adverse effects of obesity. Short peptides are key targets for research as they can be generated from natural proteins, like milk. Here we conducted trypsinogen digestion of beta-lactoglobulin (β-lg), the major mammalian milk protein, to release the hexamer VY6. It was assayed in vivo for its activities on lipid metabolism using zebra fish as a vertebrate model. Zebra fish juveniles were injected with two different doses of the peptide: 100 and 800 μg per g fish and left for 5 days before sacrificing. Lipid measurements showed significant reduction in liver triglycerides and free cholesterol, as well as increased liver HDL cholesterol. Dose-dependent increases of the mRNA levels of the genes coding for the enzymes acyl coenzyme A oxidase 1 (acox1) and lipoprotein lipase (lpl) were also found. The complete results suggest significant anti-obesity activity of the β-lg-derived VY6 peptide. Its use as a nutraceutical has been discussed.