Hepatic-targeted delivery of astaxanthin for enhanced scavenging free radical scavenge and preventing mitochondrial depolarization

Astaxanthin (AST), as natural hydrophobic nutrition, has exhibited health-promoting benefits for its outstanding antioxidant property. However, most studies tend to enhance its stability and solubility while the targeted delivery of AST is limited. In this study, liver-targeted nanocarriers were designed and prepared by lactobionic acidmodified (2-hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin) for efficient controlled delivery of AST. The minimum average size of AST nanoparticles was about 98 nm with a polydispersity index (PDI) of 0.41. The lactobionic acid-modified AST nanoparticles exhibited significant cellular uptake, and an admirable ability to scavenge free radicals for H2O2induced HepaRG cells in preventing mitochondrial depolarization. Moreover, accumulation of AST nanoparticles in liver was observed due to the modification of lactobionic acid (LA) of the nanocarriers through the specific binding of LA-asialoglycoprotein receptors. The results in this study provided a new idea for liver-specific nutrition delivery of AST in developing functional food for liver disease nutrition intervention.

Automated summary

In this study, liver-targeted nanocarriers were designed and prepared to efficiently deliver AST by modifying it with lactobionic acid. The results showed that the lactobionic acid-modified AST nanoparticles had significant cellular uptake, and displayed excellent antioxidant properties in preventing mitochondrial depolarization. Moreover, these modified nanoparticles accumulated in the liver due to specific binding with lactobionic acid receptors, suggesting their potential use in developing functional food for liver disease nutrition intervention.