Astaxanthin-loaded nanoparticles enhance its cell uptake, antioxidant and hypolipidemic activities in multiple cell lines

Co-encapsulated astaxanthin and kaempferol nanoparticles: fabrication, characterization, and their potential synergistic effects on treating non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

“…Astaxanthin was extracted with purity above 96% from the green microalga Haematococcus pluvialis . 17 Kaempferol (95% purity) and lecithin were obtained from AK Scientific, USA. Cremophor RH40, vitamin E, and β-cyclodextrin (purity ≥97%) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich.…”

“…The viability of cells was evaluated by the MTT assay according to previous description. 17 Briefly, HepG2 or RAW264.7 cells were inoculated at 0.5 × 10 5 cells per well in 96-well plate and let to adhere for 24 h. Afterward, the cells were pretreated with AK1, AK3 (10, 50 and 100 μg mL −1 ) or dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO; 0.01%) as control for 24 h and then exposed to 5 μL of MTT solution (5 mg mL −1 ) for another 4 h. The current media were then removed and 100 μL DMSO was added to dissolve the purple MTT-formazan crystals. The color of solution was read at a wavelength of 570 nm by a microplate reader (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., Waltham, MA, USA).…”

“…The protective effect of AK1 and AK3 on HepG2 cells against damage induced by oxidative stress from H 2 O 2 was evaluated using flow cytometry analysis, in accordance with the procedure outlined in Hien et al 17 The stained cells were identified utilizing the BD FACSMelody™ Cell Sorter (BD Biosciences, San Diego, CA, USA) and subsequently analyzed employing the BD FACSChorus software (BD Biosciences, San Diego, CA, USA).…”

“…The extraction and assessment of intracellular lipids in HepG2 cells treated AK1 and AK3 were carried out using enzymatic techniques, following the procedure outlined in Hien et al , 17 and analyzed with an Olympus AU400 Clinical Chemistry Analyzer (Olympus Analyzers, Tokyo, Japan).…”

“…The antioxidant capacity of nanoastaxanthin/kaempferol was determined using the DPPH assay. 17 In summary, 100 mL of a 0.2 mM DPPH solution in methanol was mixed with 100 mL of either nanoastaxanthin (AK1; 10 wt% AST) or nanoastaxanthin/ kaempferol (AK3; 7.5 wt% AST and 2.5 wt% KAE) at varying doses (10-500 mg mL −1 ). Ascorbic acid was used as a positive control.…”