H. Xiao
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
United States
Keywords: lipid nanoparticles, food science, nutraceuticals
Summary:
Many important nutraceuticals have poor oral bioavailability, which inevitably lower their efficacy as health-promoting agents. However, the oral bioavailability of these bioactive molecules could be greatly increased by engineered lipid nanoparticles (ELNs). After ingestion, these ELNs could be disassembled and reassembled into various types of biological lipid nanoparticales, e.g. mixed micelles and chylomicrons, as they pass through the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). Controlling the initial composition of ELNs could be used to alter the properties of mixed micelles and chylomicrons formed in GIT, in turn, influence the solubility, absorption and metabolism of nutraceuticals in GIT. In this talk, our recent studies using cell culture, animal models and human feeding trials to determine the role of different lipid nanoparticles in enhancing oral bioavailability of selected nutraceuticals will be summarized. The results of these studies have important implications in the rational design of lipid nanoparticle-based delivery systems to enhance health benefits of nutraceuticals. This work was supported in part by USDA.