Study On Microcapsule Preparation Of Lycopene Crystals, Stability And Function

Lycopene is a kind of no oxygen carotenoids, which has a lot of physiological functions. So it is a verypromising new functional natural pigment. However, lycopene is unstable and vulnerable to oxygen, lightand temperature etc because of lots of conjugated double bonds in its molecular structure. Therefore itsapplications are limited greatly. In recent years, studies of lycopene microcapsules have been received moreand more attention. But according to reports in the literature, the microcapsule core material is commonlyused in lycopene oleoresin. Lycopene oleoresin has a bad smell and complicated composition, whichcannot meet the requirements of the third generation of functional food. But Lycopene crystals have a goodsmell, clear component and high purity etc. Therefore, lycopene crystals have more research value. In thepaper, lycopene microcapsules were prepared by a spray-drying and inclusion complexation method usinglycopene crystals. The preparation processing, storage stability of lycopene microcapsules, anti-oxidant andanti-fatigue effect of lycopene crystals were studied. Main experimental conclusions are listed as follows:(1)By single factor test and orthogonal test to determine the best formula of the preparation oflycopene microcapsules were: acacia gum and malt dextrin ratio of7:3, core and wall material ratio of1:8,emulsifier content of1.5%, solids content of25%. By the single factor test and orthogonal test to determinethe optimum parameters of spray drying were: inlet temperature of170℃, the outlet temperature of80℃,feeding rate of400mL/h. In this condition, the average embedding rate of microcapsules was93.60%.(2)Lycopene crystals were embedded by β-cyclodextrin saturated solution in the paper. Throughsingle factor experiment and response surface analysis, the best condition for lycopene β-cyclodextrinmicrocapsules was determined: the ratio of lycopene crystals to β-CD-saturated water of1.4:1mg/mL,inclusion temperature of49℃and inclusion time of70min.In this condition, the average embedding rate ofmicrocapsules was91.04%.(3)Under different conditions, the storage stability of lycopene crystals and lycopene microcapsuleswere studied. The results showed that the lycopene preservation rate was10.53%in lycopene crystals and 68.92%in lycopene microcapsule after8days storage in light. The lycopene retention rate was0, butlycopene microcapsule52.28%after8days storage in oxygen. Respectively in30℃,50℃and70℃storagefor five days, lycopene retention rate of lycopene microcapsules was higher than lycopene crystals. Underthe same conditions, the lycopene preservation rate was85.34%in lycopene tablets and58.68%inlycopene microcapsule after10days.(4)The mice were gavage lycopene crystals for40days. By measuring the anti-anoxia time andcontents of T-SOD,GSH-Px and MDA in serum, the results showed that lycopene crystals can effectivelyincrease the anti-anoxia time,the activity of T-SOD and GSH-Px in serum, reduce the content of MDA inserum, which illustrate lycopene crystals’ anti-oxidant function. By measuring the the mice’s swimmingtime and content of liver glycogen, BLA and BUN in serum, the results showed that lycopene crystals caneffectively increase the mice’s swimming time and content of liver glycogen, reduce the content of BLAand BUN in serum, which illustrate lycopene crystals’ anti-fatigue function.