Abstract:

The physical and chemical properties of lycopene have been shown to hamper its biological functions. In this study, the liposome technique, providing one kind of commonly used carriers for drugs, was considered for the production of lycopene liposome with high stability and bioavailability. An ultrasonic-assisted film-forming method was used to prepare lycopene liposomes. Results indicated that low release rate of soybean oil-based preparation of lycopene in mimic gastric or intestinal fluid without bile salt was observed; however, the release of soybean oil-based preparation of lycopene in mimic intestinal fluid with bile salt reached up to 91%. The release of lycopene from liposome and microcapsule preparations was less than 22% in mimic gastric fluid, while its release in two kinds of mimic intestinal fluid was between 80% and 90%. Compared with soybean oil-based preparation of lycopene, lycopene liposomes prepared in our laboratory and commercially-available lycopene microcapsules exhibited longer retention time in body and lower clearance, which provided a prolonged efficiency for lycopene. Moreover, the bioavailability of lycopene liposomes was 154.42%, which was close to lycopene microcapsules and much higher than soybean oil-based preparation of lycopene.

Key words: lycopene, liposome, release in vitro, pharmacokinetics, bioavailability