Development of dendrimer-like glucan-stabilized Pickering emulsions incorporated with β-carotene.

• OSA-SMDG-stabilized emulsions incorporated with β -carotene had high encapsulation efficiency. • OSA-SMDG-based emulsions improved storage stability of β -carotene. • OSA-SMDG-based emulsions promoted antioxidant activity of β -carotene and protected cells against oxidative stress. • Higher concentration of OSA-SMDG in Pickering emulsion enhanced bioaccessibility of β -carotene. The impact of sugary maize dendrimer-like glucan octenyl succinate (OSA-SMDG) on the storage stability and antioxidant activity of β -carotene (BC)-loaded emulsions as well as bioaccessibility were investigated. The encapsulation efficiency of β -carotene in emulsions containing 3% OSA-SMDG (3OSA-SMDG-BC) or 5% OSA-SMDG (5OSA-SMDG-BC) was 89.6% and 94.9%, respectively. The antioxidant activity of both emulsions was higher than that of pure β -carotene. During simulated digestion, the particle size of emulsions was immediately reduced, whereas zeta-potential was continuously increased in intestinal digestion. After 2 h digestion, the free fatty acids (FFA) release rate of 3OSA-SMDG-BC and 5OSA-SMDG-BC was significantly higher than that of blank emulsion. Bioaccessibility of β -carotene encapsulated in 3OSA-SMDG-BC and 5OSA-SMDG-BC was also significantly higher than that of blank emulsion. FFA release rate and β -carotene bioaccessibility of 5OSA-SMDG-BC were higher than that of 3OSA-SMDG-BC. These results demonstrated that OSA-SMDG could be used to fabricate food-grade O/W Pickering emulsion as a delivery system for bioactive compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]