Chicken meat protein hydrolysate as a functional food ingredient: Antioxidant and dual-targeting neuroprotection against Alzheimer's disease via anti-amyloidogenic and anti-inflammatory pathways

Alzheimer's disease (AD) has driven interest in food-derived bioactive peptides as accessible neuroprotective ingredients, yet chicken meat as a scalable source remains unevaluated against AD-like pathology in vivo. We report the first in-vivo evaluation of a pilot-scale chicken meat protein hydrolysate (CMPH) in a D-galactose/AlCl 3 -induced mouse model. Enzymatic hydrolysis yielded a CMPH with 85.51% of peptides ≤1 kDa, predominantly the histidine-containing dipeptides carnosine and anserine. CMPH showed strong antioxidant activity (65.64% ABTS scavenging; 67.42% ferric-reducing power) and protected SH-SY5Y cells against H₂O₂-induced stress. In BALB/c mice, oral CMPH (2.20 g/kg) reduced Morris water maze escape latency by ≈38% and increased target-quadrant time from 16.2% to 27.9% ( P < 0.05). Mechanistically, CMPH attenuated amyloid-β accumulation by down-regulating APP, BACE1 and γ-secretase/PS1, and suppressed neuroinflammation by lowering TNF-α and NF-κB p65. These findings position CMPH as a food-grade neuroprotective ingredient warranting further clinical investigation.