Purification of free arginine from chickpea (Cicer arietinum) seeds

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Chickpea is a grain legume widely consumed in the Mediterranean region and other parts of the world. Chickpea seeds are rich in proteins but they also contain a substantial amount of free amino acids, especially arginine. Hence chickpea may represent a usefu...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Cortés-Giraldo, Isabel, Megías, Cristina, Alaíz Barragán, Manuel, Girón-Calle, Julio, Vioque, Javier
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/128995
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/128995
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Chickpeas
Free amino acids
Arginine
Seed flour
Descripción
Sumario:© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Chickpea is a grain legume widely consumed in the Mediterranean region and other parts of the world. Chickpea seeds are rich in proteins but they also contain a substantial amount of free amino acids, especially arginine. Hence chickpea may represent a useful source of free amino acids for nutritional or pharmaceutical purposes. Arginine is receiving great attention in recent years because it is the substrate for the synthesis of nitric oxide, an important signaling molecule involved in numerous physiological and pathological processes in mammals. In this work we describe a simple procedure for the purification of arginine from chickpea seeds, using nanofiltration technology and an ion-exchange resin, Amberlite IR-120. Arginine was finally purified by precipitation or crystallization, yielding preparations with purities of 91% and 100%, respectively. Chickpea may represent an affordable green source of arginine, and a useful alternative to production by fermentation or protein hydrolysis.