Bioactive wheat peptide nanoliposomes: Structural characterization, stability, digestion property, and antioxidant...

Wheat peptide (WP), as a key bioactive component of wheat, has significant physiological functions. However, its bioactivity is often impaired by poor stability and premature degradation in complex physiological environments. This study aimed to optimize the delivery performance of WP using nanoliposome encapsulation technology, and evaluated their structure, stability, digestive properties, and antioxidant activity. Results demonstrated optimal encapsulation efficiency (95.16 ± 0.03%) was achieved at a phosphatidylethanolamine-to-cholesterol mass ratio of 1:5 with 30% WP loading, yielding Lips@WP with a particle size of 235.40 ± 1.18 nm and a polydispersity index of 0.20 ± 0.02. Compared to free WP, Lips@WP displayed superior stability under complex physiological environments (pH variations, temperature fluctuations, salt concentration differences, and simulated gastrointestinal fluids), validating the protective effect of the nanoliposome bilayer structure on WP. Furthermore, Lips@WP significantly enhanced antioxidant capacity of WP. This study provides a solution for improving the stability and antioxidant activity of WP.