Activity-guided discovery of (S)-malic acid 1′- O -β-gentiobioside as an angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitor in lettuce (lactuca sativa)

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), playing a crucial role in the renin angiotensin aldosterone system, is well-known to catalyze the conversion of the decapeptide angiotensin I into the physiologically active octapeptide angiotensin II, triggering blood pressure increasing mechanisms. To meet the demand for natural phytochemicals as antihypertensive agents in functional food development, extracts prepared from a series of vegetables were screened for their ACE-inhibitory activity by means of a LC-MS/MS-based in vitro assay. By far the highest ACE inhibition was found for a lettuce extract, in which the most active compound was located by means of activity-guided fractionation. LC-MS, NMR spectroscopy, and hydrolysis experiments followed by ion chromatography led to the unequivocal identification of the ACE inhibitor as the previously not reported (S)-malic acid 1′-O-β-gentiobioside. This glycoside represents a novel class of ACE-inhibiting phytochemicals with a low IC₅₀ value of 27.8 μM. First incubation experiments in saliva and aqueous hydrochloric acid demonstrated the stability of (S)-malic acid 1′-O-β-gentiobioside against salivary glycosidases and stomach acid.