Trypsin-treated chickpea protein hydrolysate enhances the cytoaffinity of microbeads for cultured meat application.

Cultured meat is believed to be a promising alternative to conventional meat production that can reduce environmental impacts, animal suffering, and food safety risks. However, one of the major challenges in producing cultured meat is to provide suitable microcarriers that can support cell attachment, proliferation, and differentiation. In this study, we developed novel microcarriers based on chickpea protein hydrolysates functionalized with trypsin. These microcarriers exhibited superior cytoaffinity and proliferation for various types of cultured cells, including C2C12, porcine myoblasts, chicken satellite cells, and 3T3-L1. Moreover, these microcarriers enabled cell differentiation into muscle or fat cells under appropriate conditions. We propose that trypsin treatment enhances the cytoaffinity of chickpea protein hydrolysates by exposing lysine and arginine residues that can interact with cell surface receptors. Our results suggest that chickpea protein hydrolysate functionalized microcarrier is a promising substrate for cultured meat production with cost-effectiveness and scalability.