Delivery of bioactives using cell based carriers provides an alternative to engineered micro-carriers for both the food and pharmaceutical industries. This study was focused on understanding the role of intracellular compositions and structure in modulating the release and bio-accessibility of encapsulated phytochemicals during simulated gastrointestinal digestion of cell-based carriers. Conventionally, changes in the structure of the micro-carriers during digestion is correlated with the release of encapsulated bioactives, however the cell based carriers are significantly complex and has diverse biochemical composition that can modulate the release of encapsulated bioactives. Yeast was selected as a model cell-based carrier and trans-resveratrol (trans-Res) as a model encapsulated phytochemical. The release of encapsulated trans-Res was evaluated during the simulated gastric, intestinal (at low and high bile salt concentration), and sequential (gastric followed by intestinal) conditions. A combination of vibrational spectroscopy (FTIR) and principal component analysis (PCA) were used for characterizing biochemical changes in cellular composition during gastric and sequential digestions. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used for characterizing structural changes in the cells. The results illustrate the role of gastric treatment in influencing the intracellular protein secondary structures and aggregation and the significant role of these biochemical changes in accelerating the release of encapsulated phytochemical during gastric as well as during sequential digestions. In contrast, limited changes in structural properties of cells were observed using TEM. Bile salts solubilizes the intracellular lipids and improve partitioning of phytochemical to the intestinal fluid during sequential digestions. The gastrointestinal treatments have no significant effect on the intracellular nucleic acid confirmations. Overall, the results highlight significant role of the gastric treatment and bile salts in the release and bio-accessibility of encapsulated phytochemicals from cell based carriers based on biochemical changes while limited effect was observed on structural properties of these carriers during gastro-intestinal digestion.

Investigation of biochemical and structural mechanisms for the release of phytochemicals from cell-based carriers

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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