Preparation of Rutin-Whey Protein Pickering Emulsion and Its Effect on Zebrafish Skeletal Muscle Movement Ability

Nutritional supplementation enriched with protein and antioxidants has been demonstrated to effectively strengthen skeletal muscle function and mitigate the risk of sarcopenia. Dietary protein has also been a common carrier to establish bioactive delivery system. Therefore, in this study, a Pickering emulsion delivery system for rutin was constructed with whey protein, and its structural characteristics, bioaccessibility, and molecular interactions were investigated. In the in vivo study, zebrafish (n = 10 in each group), which have a high genetic homology to humans, were treated with dexamethasone to induce sarcopenia symptoms and were administered with rutin, whey protein and the Pickering emulsion, respectively, for muscle movement ability evaluation, and zebrafish treated with or without dexamethasone was used as the model and the control groups, respectively. Results showed that the Pickering emulsion was homogeneous in particle size with a rutin encapsulation rate of 71.16 ± 0.15% and loading efficiency of 44.48 ± 0.11%. Rutin in the Pickering emulsion exhibited a significantly higher bioaccessibility than the free form. The interaction forces between rutin and the two components of whey proteins (α-LA and β-LG) were mainly van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonds. After treatment for 96 h, the zebrafish in Picking emulsion groups showed a significantly increased high-speed movement time and frequency, an increased level of ATP, prolonged peripheral motor nerve length, and normalized muscular histological structure compared with those of the model group (p < 0.05). The results of this study developed a new strategy for rutin utilization and provide scientific evidence for sarcopenia prevention with a food-derived resource.