A non-cytotoxic pseudo peptide KL1 with potent antioxidant activity

By incorporating a reduced amide bond Ψ [CH₂NH] into α helical antibacterial peptide, we made an attempt to synthesize an antioxidant pseudo peptide. When the pKa value of reduced amide bond is between 6.5 to 7.5, it is protonated depending on the pH. We investigated the antioxidant activity by hydroxyl radical scavenging assay and DPPH radical scavenging assay, the results showed that, the antioxidant activity of KL1 pseudo peptide (51%, 56%) were promising when compared to standard antioxidants like BHA(68%, 78%) and BHT (65%, 81%) respectively. The cyto-toxicity studies of the pseudo peptide showed that the peptide is non-toxic to cells.