Encapsulation of Hibiscus sabdariffa L. anthocyanins as natural colours in yeast.

Hibiscus sabdariffa extracts, a rich source of anthocyanin, were subjected to encapsulation in yeast cells. An encapsulation yield (EY) of 208 µg/100 mg of cells and an encapsulation efficiency (EE) of 27%, were reached after optimisation of the ratios (0.5 g wet yeast cells for 5 ml of anthocyanin extracts at 1 g·L-1) and with 10% of ethanol. The storage stability of encapsulated pigments was investigated in water and buffer pH 1.5 at 5 & 37 °C for 10 days and 90 °C for 30 min. The percentage of loss of colour was determined by colourimetry assays. The microparticles made of yeast with or without heat treatment exhibited different protecting effects (P < 0.01). At 37 °C, the percentage of loss of colour in water was of 2.5% for heat-treated and 36.5% for non-treated yeast microparticles, suggesting that yeast enzymes would be responsible for the loss of anthocyanin during storage. These results are confirmed by the percentage of loss of colour which was far lower in conditions of low enzymatic activity: 3.1% at 5 °C for non-heat-treated cells in water. The pH of solvent had also an important effect on the degradation of encapsulated anthocyanin; in buffer at pH 1.5 and 37 °C with the non-heat-treated cells, the degradation decreased strongly to 9.4% compared with 36.5% in water. These results show that yeast cells are a good mean of encapsulation of pigments for a colouring purpose and that they provide anthocyanins a good protection as long as their enzymes are inactivated.

Fluorescence Lifetime and UV-Vis Spectroscopy to Evaluate the Interactions Between Quercetin and Its Yeast Microcapsule.

Quercetin is a fragile bioactive compound. Several works have tried to preserve it by encapsulation but the form of encapsulation (mono- or supra-molecular structure, tautomeric form), though important for stability and bioavailability, remains unknown. The present work aims at developing a fluorescence lifetime technique to evaluate the structure of quercetin during encapsulation in a vector capsule that has already proven efficiency, yeast cells. Molecular stabilization was observed during a 4-month storage period. The time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC) technique was used to evaluate the interaction between quercetin molecules and the yeast capsule. The various tautomeric forms, as identified by UV-Vis spectroscopy, result in various lifetimes in TCSPC, although they varied also with the buffer environment. Quercetin in buffer exhibited a three-to-four longer long-time after 24 h (changing from 6-7 to 18-23 ns), suggesting an aggregation of molecules. In yeast microcapsules, the long-time population exhibited a longer lifetime (around 27 ns) from the beginning and concerned about 20% of molecules compared to dispersed quercetin. This shows that lifetime analysis can show the monomolecular instability of quercetin in buffer and the presence of interactions between quercetin molecules and their microcapsules.

Molecule structural factors influencing the loading of flavoring compounds in a natural-preformed capsule: Yeast cells.

Yeast cells are efficient microcapsules for the encapsulation of flavoring compounds. However, as they are preformed capsules, they have to be loaded with the active. Encapsulation efficiency is to a certain level correlated with LogP. In this study, the effect of structural factors on the encapsulation of amphiphilic flavors was investigated. Homological series of carboxylic acids, ethyl esters, lactones, alcohols and ketones were encapsulated into the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica. Although, in a single homological series, the length of the molecule and thus the LogP were correlated with encapsulation efficiency (EY%), big differences were observable between series. For instance, carboxylic acids and lactones exhibited EY% around 45%-55%, respectively, for compounds bigger than C8 and C6, respectively, whereas ethyl esters reached only about 15-20% for C10 compounds. For a group of various C6-compounds, EY% varied from 4% for hexanal to 45% for hexanoic acid although the LogP of the two compounds was almost similar at 1.9. In total our results point out the importance of the level of polarity and localization of the polar part of the compound in addition to the global hydrophobicity of the molecule. They will be of importance to optimize the encapsulation of mixtures of compounds.

Encapsulation in a natural, preformed, multi-component and complex capsule: yeast cells.

From the first observation about 40 years ago that yeast cells were interesting protective structures that could be used in several industrial applications, processes have been developed enabling technologists to incorporate several compounds possessing different physico-chemical (hydrophobic/hydrophilic) properties. Technologists screened yeast diversity to choose strains possessing the best potential and modified their physiological state to increase the uptake capability and the envelope plasticity, for instance by increasing the amount of lipids. Physico-chemical treatments were also used to improve the uptake and decrease the yeast natural material impact on the final products. For example, yeast cells could be "emptied" of their plasmic material. Yeast cells can also be coated with an additional polymeric material to increase resistance to heat treatment or decrease material liberation.These capsules can be used for several applications including carbonless paper, perfuming tissues and drug targeting, but the main industrial application deals currently with flavour encapsulation, although encapsulation in yeast is also interesting for the global food industry trend for health products.This paper proposes to review the use of yeast as an encapsulation structure focusing particularly on the properties of the yeast capsule and their impact on loading, protection, targeting and release.