Fabrication and assessment of milk phospholipid-complexed antioxidant phytosomes with vitamin C and E: A comparison with liposomes

Evidences have shown that phytosome assemblies are novel drug delivery system. However, studies of phytosomes in food applications are scarce. The characteristics of milk phospholipid assemblies and their functionality in terms of in vitro digestibility and bioavailability of encapsulated nutrients (ascorbic acid and α-tocopherol) were studied. The phytosomes were fabricated using ethanolic evaporation technique. Spectral analysis revealed that polar parts of phospholipids formed hydrogen bonds with ascorbic acid hydroxyl groups, further, incorporating ascorbic acid or α-tocopherol into the phospholipid assembly changed the chemical conformation of the complexes. Phospholipid-ascorbic acid phytosomes yielded an optimal complexing index of 98.52 ± 0.03% at a molar ratio of 1:1. Phytosomes exhibited good biocompatibility on intestinal epithelial cells. The cellular uptake of ascorbic acid was 29.06 ± 1.18% for phytosomes. It was higher than that for liposomes (24.14 ± 0.60%) and for ascorbic acid aqueous solution (1.17 ± 0.70%).