Abstract: This work studied the chemical components of Neurospora crassa spores by national standard methods, and it also observed the morphology and size by scanning electron microscopy. Meanwhile, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging and metal chelating assays were used to evaluate the antioxidant capacity of carotenoids in Neurospora crassa spores, and total carotenoid content was determined spectrophotometrically. The effects of in vitro digestion and different storage conditions on the stability of carotenoids were studied as well. The results showed that the contents of water, crude fiber, crude fat, protein and chitin in the spore wall of Neurospora crassa were (17.70 ± 0.63)%, (29.90 ± 0.03)%, (0.32 ± 0.11)%, (28.32 ± 0.89)% and (0.66 ± 0.13)%, respectively. Total carotenoid content in the spores was (776.42 ± 2.05) μg/g. After oral, gastric and intestinal digestion, the spores became more collapsed and had closely spaced small holes in cell walls when compared to the control group. In addition, the release rate of carotenoids significantly increased during the entire digestion process: oral (9.35%) < gastric (18.78%) < small intestinal digestion (32.58%), so did the antioxidant capacity of digests. After 9-day storage at 4 ℃ in darkness, at 25 ℃ in darkness and at 25 ℃ in light, the amount of carotenoids decreased by 2.24%, 3.19% and 5.79%, respectively. All these data indicated that cell wall of Neurospora crassa spores could be a suitable wall material for encapsulation of unstable substances and be beneficial to digestion and absorption.

Key words: Neurospora crassa spore, spore characteristics, in vitro digestion, storage stability