Sustainable enzymatic approach for recovery of potential bioactive peptides and chondroitin sulphate from bovine trachea.

The valorisation of cartilaginous meat by-products as a source of compounds such as chondroitin sulphate (CS) and bioactive peptides offers a sustainable alternative for nutraceutical or pharmaceutical applications. This study developed a mild and sustainable approach, integrating enzymatic hydrolysis and ultrasounds (US) pre-treatments, to obtain extracts from bovine tracheal cartilage. The extracts were purified, fractionated by molecular weight, and characterised both qualitatively and quantitatively for CS and peptide content. Results showed that the combination of papain with US improved extraction yield, while further purification increased the CS content to approximately 40%. Bioactivity assays revealed the highest antioxidant, antihypertensive, and antidiabetic activities generally in fractions <30 kDa, particularly in extracts obtained through US-assisted enzymatic hydrolysis. The composition and bioactivity of the extracts varied with the pre-treatment applied, allowing process adaptation for specific applications. These findings highlight the potential to achieve high CS purity and bioactive peptide content from cartilaginous meat by-products.