Shrimp Head Lipids and Peptides Show Neuroprotective, Anti-inflammatory, and Antioxidant Effects In Vitro

The global rise of Alzheimer's disease (AD) necessitates novel therapeutic and preventative strategies, including brain-healthy functional foods. Current AD treatments often have limited efficacy and significant side effects, highlighting a critical gap. Shrimp processing generates substantial head waste, a rich source of bioactive compounds like lipids and peptides. These compounds, particularly phospholipids and short peptides, are increasingly recognized for their potential in neuroprotection and anti-inflammatory modulation, offering a promising avenue for nutraceutical development to support brain health.

Researchers employed a 'one-step' three-phase partitioning (TPP) method followed by successive proteolysis to extract polar lipid (PL-SH), protein (P-SH), and proteolytic peptidic product (Pep-SH) from Litopenaeus vannamei shrimp heads. These extracts were then evaluated for their antioxidant, neuroprotective, and anti-neuroinflammatory activities. Antioxidant potential was assessed using DPPH, ABTS+, and hydroxyl free radical scavenging assays. Neuroprotective effects were tested on HT-22 mouse hippocampal neuronal cells challenged with Aβ25-35. Anti-neuroinflammatory activity was examined in BV-2 microglial cells stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The lipid composition of PL-SH was further characterized by thin-layer chromatography and LC-MS/MS-based lipidomics.

All three shrimp head-derived products—PL-SH, P-SH, and Pep-SH—exhibited strong antioxidant potential across DPPH, ABTS+, and hydroxyl free radical scavenging assays. Specifically, both PL-SH and Pep-SH demonstrated significant protective effects against Aβ25-35-induced cell damage in HT-22 mouse hippocampal neuronal cells under the tested conditions. This indicates their capacity to mitigate neurotoxicity associated with amyloid-beta aggregation, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. Furthermore, PL-SH notably reduced nitric oxide (NO) production in BV-2 microglial cells stimulated with LPS, suggesting a potential anti-neuroinflammatory action by modulating microglial activation. LC-MS/MS-based lipidomics of PL-SH revealed a diverse profile of phospholipids, which are crucial components of neuronal membranes and signaling pathways. The abstract did not provide specific numerical data (e.g., percent reduction, IC50 values, p-values) for these findings, but described the effects qualitatively as 'strong antioxidant potential,' 'protective effects,' and 'reduced nitric oxide production.'