In vitro and In vivo digestion comparison of bee pollen with or without wall‐disruption

Abstract

BACKGROUND Bee pollen is considered as a treasure trove of human and animal nutrients as a result of its extensive nutritional and therapeutic properties. However, the sophisticated pollen wall can largely limit the digestibility and bioavailability of these nutrients. RESULTS An ultrasonication and high shear technique was used to break the walls of five species of bee pollen, including rape bee pollen, lotus bee pollen, camellia bee pollen, wuweizi bee pollen and apricot bee pollen. We compared the digestibilities of bee pollen with or without wall‐disruption. After in vitro and in vivo digestion, unbroken bee pollen grains were still intact and the fragments of wall‐disrupted bee pollen still remained as fragments. Mouse in vivo digestion results suggested that the wall‐disrupted bee pollen was more easily emptied from the gastrointestinal tract than unbroken bee pollen. After dynamic in vitro digestion, the digestibilities of protein and crude fat in wall‐disrupted bee pollen significantly increased to more than 80%; similarly, the release rates of amino acids and reducing sugars in all wall‐disrupted samples were almost 1.5 and 2 times as much as those of unbroken samples. CONCLUSION Based on the results obtained in the present study, we strongly recommend that bee pollen should be wall‐disrupted. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry

Impact of particle size on the nutrition release and antioxidant activity of rape, buckwheat and rose bee pollens

“…The results of in vitro dynamic digestion also showed that the release rates of amino acids, reducing sugars, proteins and fats in bee pollen with smaller particles after wall disruption were higher than those in untreated samples and the digestibility was also improved. 36 Li et al found that the particle size of wheat bran was also negatively correlated with the bioavailability of ferulic acid and sinapic acid. 24 The smaller the particle size of wheat bran, the better the release of ferulic acid and sinapic acid after digestion.…”

Bee Pollen: Current Status and Therapeutic Potential

“…On the other hand, it caused nutritional loss. Physical treatment with ultrasound and supercritical fluids was successful, but these methods are highly challenging in terms of time, cost, and effort [15]. The supercritical carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) technique was used to extract essential oil from bee pollen using a supercritical CO 2 system at pressures of 13.2-46.8 MPa, temperatures of 33.2-66.8 • C, and CO 2 flow rates of 6.6-23.4 L/h.…”

Bioinspired oral delivery devices

“…Because of their resistant shells, pollen grains have a high tolerance to mechanical force, high temperatures and extreme chemical conditions such as acids, alkalis, enzymes and organic solvents 52 . These features help them withstand the harsh gastric environment and to serve as oral delivery devices [52][53][54][55] . In addition, pollen grains have irregular surface morphologies and show strong mucosal adhesion, leading to longer GI retention time and higher drug bioavailability in comparison to similarly sized synthetic delivery vehicles with a smooth surface 53 .…”

“…In addition, pollen grains have irregular surface morphologies and show strong mucosal adhesion, leading to longer GI retention time and higher drug bioavailability in comparison to similarly sized synthetic delivery vehicles with a smooth surface 53 . Pollens are either totally or partly digested in the GI tract and excreted, depending on their chemical nature and the integrity of the pollen wall 54,55 . To remove the inherent allergic substances in the cavity of pollen grains and to load drugs, a sequence of chemical treatments is applied, including strong acids, strong bases and organic solvents 30 (Fig.…”