Investigation of the stability and gastrointestinal digestion of camellia oleifera oil bodies as a natural delivery system for curcumin

We extracted Camellia oleifera oil bodies (COOB) from Camellia oleifera seeds (COS) to evaluate the function of oil bodies in delivering lipophilic bioactive compounds. Curcumin was loaded into COOB by pH shift method to form Curcumin- Camellia oleifera oil body emulsion (COB). Characterization analysis of COB with different mass fractions showed that COB had the best encapsulation efficiency (80.56%), particle size (2.17 μm), and environmental stress, could show excellent stability at salt concentrations from 100 to 500 mmol/L or pH values of 3 and 5 to 9 and at different temperature treatments when the addition of curcumin was 1%. Based on the digestion of COB in the gastrointestinal tract, a stable and sustained release of the active substance and, ultimately, a bioavailability of 81.51% of curcumin and 37.33 μmol/ml of free fatty acids were obtained in COOB carriers, which indicated COOB has the potential as a natural delivery system for lipophilic bioactive compounds.