Potential of milk fat globule membrane's phospholipids and anhydrous milk fat based nanostructured lipid carriers for enhanced bioaccessibility of vitamin D3

Abstract

Novel nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) were engineered using anhydrous milk fat (AMF) as vitamin-D3 (VD3) carrier and milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) phospholipids (PLs) as surfactants. Significantly higher encapsulation efficiency of VD3 was obtained (96 ± 2.5%) in AMF-MFGM-PLs NLCs. Void and VD3 loaded NLCs had diameters of 150 ± 0.2 nm and 167 ± 2 nm and ζ-potentials of −15.5 ± 1.6 mV and −15.9 ± 0.3 mV, respectively. NLCs had spherical morphology; VD3 was distributed in the lipid core of NLCs via weak electrostatic or hydrophobic interactions. Physical stability in terms of particle size and homogeneity of particles was attained for a three-week storage period. Biphasic in-vitro controlled release kinetics was observed, i.e., burst release followed by sustained release up to 21 days. VD3 exhibited effective chemical stability (48.3 ± 3.4%) and significantly higher bioaccessibility (88 ± 2.6%) after complete simulated in-vitro digestion. VD3 loaded NLCs are promising natural vehicles for the effective delivery of less-bioaccessible vitamins to overcome micronutrient deficiency.