Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of pulsed electric fields (PEF) to improve the extraction of the lipid-soluble astaxanthin from fresh biomass of a wild-type (CECT 11028) and mutant (ATCC 74219) Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous strain using ethanol as solvent. Inactivation and propidium uptake studies revealed that inactivation is a good index for estimated the proportion of irreversible permeabilized cells when inactivation is higher than 70% in the two strains. Ethanol was ineffective for extracting carotenoids from the PEF-treated cells (20 kV/cm, 135 μs) of the two strains. However, after aqueous incubation of PEF-treated X. dendrorhous ATCC 74219 cells for 12 h, up to 2.4 ± 0.05 mg/g dried weight (d.w.) of carotenoids were extracted in ethanol. From total carotenoid extracted, around 84% corresponded to all-trans astaxanthin. The detection and quantification of esterase activity in the supernatant and the relationship between the percentage of esterase activity quantified and the amount of carotenoids extracted indicate that the extraction of astaxanthin was mediated by enzymatic esterase activity triggered by PEF during incubation. On the other hand, the formation of a large lipid globule into the cytoplasm of PEF-treated X. dendrorhous CECT 11028 cells during aqueous incubation prevented carotenoid extraction. The process developed in this investigation represents a more sustainable and greener method that those previously used for extracting astaxanthin from yeast.
Highlights
Astaxanthin (3,3 -dihydroxy-β, β-carotene-4,4 -dione; C40H52O4) is a lipid-soluble oxycarotenoid widely used in food, aquaculture, nutraceutical, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries due to its relatively high antioxidant activity compared with other antioxidant molecules
This study aimed to evaluate the effect of pulsed electric fields (PEF)-assisted on the extraction of astaxanthin from fresh biomass of a wildtype and a mutant hyper-producer X. dendrorhous strain using ethanol as solvent
The inactivation by PEF treatments of the two X. dendrorhous strains used in this study (CECT 11028 and ATCC 74219) varying electric field strength and treatment time is shown in Figures 1A,B, respectively
Summary
Astaxanthin (3,3 -dihydroxy-β, β-carotene-4,4 -dione; C40H52O4) is a lipid-soluble oxycarotenoid widely used in food, aquaculture, nutraceutical, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries due to its relatively high antioxidant activity compared with other antioxidant molecules. Synthetic astaxanthin has not been approved for human consumption by safety concerns related to the use of petrochemicals during its synthesis process (Li et al, 2011; Shah et al, 2016). Natural astaxanthin has gained huge attention from researches and consumers in the last years. Studies have suggested that natural astaxanthin has around 20 times more antioxidant activity compared with the synthetic molecule (Capelli et al, 2013). The growing demand from industries and consumers has encouraged researches to demonstrate the feasibility of astaxanthin production and extraction from diverse natural sources
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