Camellia oleifera Oil Body as a Delivery System for Curcumin: Encapsulation, Physical, and in Vitro Digestion Properties.

Oil bodies (OB) are unique organelles for storing oil in oil seeds, which have unique physicochemical stability and are considered potential nanocarriers. In this study, we extracted Camellia oleifera oil bodies (COOB) from Camellia oleifera seeds (COS) and evaluated the function of COOB in delivering lipophilic bioactive compounds. The delivery system was prepared by loading curcumin into COOB by pH-shift method to form Curcumin-Camellia oleifera oil body emulsion (COB). Through characterization of COB with different mass fractions of curcumin, it was found that when the addition of curcumin was 1%, COB had the best encapsulation efficiency (83.53%), droplet size (2.17 μm). The COB at this concentration has physical stability against environmental stresses, showing good stability at NaCl concentrations of 100 to 500 mmol/L and pH values of 3 and 5 to 9, also after treatment at temperatures ranging from 30 to 90 °C for 20 min. Based on in vitro gastrointestinal digestion of COB, a sustained release of curcumin and free fatty acids was observed during simulated intestinal digestion, reaching 81.51% and 77.46%, respectively, after 120 min. Findings in this study indicate that COOB has potential as a delivery system for lipophilic bioactive compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]