Gastrointestinal fate of blueberry anthocyanins in ferritin-based nanocarriers

Blueberries contain an important amount of anthocyanins, which possess numerous biological properties. Nonetheless, the potential applications of anthocyanins may be constrained due to their limited stability and bioavailability. This study aimed to evaluate the stability and absorption of blueberry anthocyanin extracts (BAE) and anthocyanin standards (malvidin and cyanidin glycosides) when encapsulated using ferritin (FR) nanocarriers or a combination of FR and sodium alginate (SA) under simulated gastrointestinal conditions and Caco-2 cell monolayers. These results indicate that the use of FR nanocarriers resulted in an extended-release of anthocyanins during simulated digestion. Particularly, it was observed that after a period of 2 h in the intestinal phase, the anthocyanin concentration in BAE was greater (38.01 μg/mL, P < 0.05) when FR nanocarriers were employed, in comparison to untreated BAE (4.12 μg/mL). Furthermore, outcomes obtained from the Caco-2 cell monolayer assay revealed that FR-anthocyanin encapsulation resulted in substantially higher (P < 0.05) absorption rates ranging from 25.09 to 44.59 % compared to untreated anthocyanins (10.61-22.95 %). These findings provide evidence of an innovative approach for enhancing the stability and bioavailability of blueberry anthocyanins.