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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Western Regional Research Center » Healthy Processed Foods Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #384330
Research Project: Prevention of Obesity Related Metabolic Diseases by Bioactive Components of Food Processing Waste Byproducts and Mitigation of Food Allergies

Location: Healthy Processed Foods Research

Title: Evaluation of cellular absorption and metabolism of ß-carotene loaded in nano-carriers after in vitro digestion

Author
item CHEN, L - Jiangnan University
item Yokoyama, Wallace - Wally
item Tam, Christina
item TAN, YUQING - China Agriculture University
item ALVES, PRISCILA - Former ARS Employee
item BARTLEY, GLENN - Former ARS Employee
item ZHONG, FANG - Jiangnan University

Submitted to: Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/26/2021
Publication Date: 8/4/2021
Citation: Chen, L., Yokoyama, W.H., Tam, C.C., Tan, Y., Alves, P., Bartley, G., Zhong, F. 2021. Evaluation of cellular absorption and metabolism of ß-carotene loaded in nano-carriers after in vitro digestion. Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. 69(32):9383-9394. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.1c02431.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.1c02431

Interpretive Summary: Beta-carotene, pro-vitamin A, is the major dietary source for vitamin A. In cell culture studies it was shown that measuring the amount of beta-carotene taken up by cells does not give an accurate measure of beta-carotene because it can be rapidly metabolized into retinyl esters. We found that the form of the carrier plays an important role in determine uptake and metabolism of beta-carotene to vitamin A.

Technical Abstract: The effects of the emulsifier type and the existing of lipids on the absorption of nano-emulsions (NEs) and nanoparticles (NPs) after digestion and the metabolism behavior of encapsulating ß-carotene were investigated. An in-vitro simulated digestion model was used to collect the digestive carriers, and then the Caco-2 cell monolayers were conducted to study the absorption and metabolism actions of ß-carotene in micelles (NEs-D) and micellar-like aggregates (NPs-D). The digestion process significantly enhanced the Vitamin A cellular uptake of ß-carotene loaded in NEs/NPs. NPs-D exhibited a higher absorption rate compared with NEs-D, probably due to a more efficient internalization way of digested NPs. The generation of ß-LG after digestion for WPI-based carriers improved the absorption and lowered the metabolism to retinyl palmitate of ß-carotene. The presence of lipids was found to improve metabolism and aid the transportation of retinoids into the basolateral side. Understanding of the transportation behavior of protein-based nano-carries after passing through the GI tract may open an avenue to the design of biosafe carriers with high bioavailability to deliver lipophilic nutrients.