Abstract
Zein is one of the popular bioactive carriers and play critical roles in the promotion of stability, absorption, and utilization of the nutrients and bioactive ingredients. The application of zein delivery systems for the encapsulation of bioactive ingredients has recently gained increasing interest. The aim of this work was to modify zein by pepsin and prepare the lutein-loaded zein nanoparticle (LZN) and the lutein-loaded zein hydrolysate nanoparticle (LZHN), respectively. The effects of zein hydrolysation on entrapment efficiency and in vitro digestion stability of lutein were also evaluated in this study. Hydrolysation of zein by the pepsin has important effects on lutein embedding. The optimal hydrolysis conditions, including the pepsin concentration (1.5%), temperature (55°C), and time (4 h), enhanced the entrapment efficiency (EE) of lutein by 93.82 ± 2.82% as compared to 85.18 ± 3.28% of the untreated zein, respectively. In contrast to LZN, LZHN had better structural characteristics, the average particle size decreases from 158.40 ± 3.22 nm to 112.2 ± 1.56 nm, and LZHN showed better dispersivity and zeta potential. The stability and release assays in simulated gastric fluid (SGF) and simulated intestinal fluid (SIF) showed that hydrolyzed zein nanocarriers by pepsin improved the digestion stability and promoted the release of lutein under gastrointestinal digestive conditions. These results suggest that hydrolyzed zein with pepsin may act as an effective carrier for lutein delivery and shows many potential advantages compared with the zein.
Highlights
Lutein is a nutritional and functional ingredient and widely exists in a variety of foods
When the zein was hydrolyzed for 4 h, the entrapment efficiency of lutein reached a maximum value. is is because when the zein was hydrolyzed, the pepsin hydrolysis caused structural destruction of zein, some polypeptides increased gradually, the polypeptides were combined with lutein, and the entrapment efficiency of lutein was increased
The hydrolysis degree of zein reached the maximum at 4 h, the small molecular peptides and amino acids increased, and the entrapment efficiency of lutein was no longer increased and even showed a slight decrease after 4 h. erefore, the entrapment efficiency of lutein was higher at 4 h hydrolysis of zein, where medium sized zein and polypeptides could be formed, which were beneficial to improve the encapsulation efficiency [25, 26]
Summary
Lutein is a nutritional and functional ingredient and widely exists in a variety of foods. The low stability and poor controlled-release performance of zein in gastrointestinal conditions have a significant impact on the delivery of the internal active substances and these defects hinder the application of zein as appropriate carriers for bioactive components [14]. To overcome these drawbacks, the recent research focuses on constructing the modified protein nanodelivery systems. Zein hydrolysates were prepared by pepsin, the effect of zein hydrolysis on entrapment efficiency of lutein was assessed, and a lutein-loaded nanocomplex system based on zein hydrolysates was first established for improving in vitro digestion stability and release of lutein Their structural characterization and morphology were investigated
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