Construction of efficient carotenoid delivery vehicles based on the intestinal epithelial transport pathway: Current applications and future trends

Dietary nutrients are crucial for regulating the expression and function of carotenoid-specific transport proteins, influencing the transintestinal transport and bioavailability of carotenoids. Although current carotenoid delivery systems exhibit adequate bioaccessibility and intestinal epithelial mucus adsorption/permeability, achieving satisfactory bioavailability in vivo experiments remains challenging. Recent molecular nutrition research has highlighted the significance of intestinal epithelial-specific transport proteins in recognizing and transporting carotenoids across the epithelium, underscoring the key role in determining intestinal carotenoid absorption efficiency. Therefore, constructing oral delivery carriers from the perspective of the delivery pathway regulation of intestinal epithelial transport proteins to promote carotenoid trans-intestinal epithelial transport performance is an effective strategy to break through the technical bottleneck of efficient oral carotenoid delivery. This review first introduces the carotenoid absorption sites in the intestine and their transintestinal absorption mechanisms. It then summarizes the regulatory effect of different dietary nutrients on carotenoid-specific transport protein expression. A new strategy is proposed for functional carotenoid delivery carrier construction, integrating dietary nutrients that promote specific transport protein expression using existing carrier construction technologies. Finally, the review provides an outlook on the construction methods and application prospects of functionalized carotenoid delivery systems. Intestinal carotenoid absorption is tightly regulated by intestinal epithelial transport proteins, and their expression is profoundly influenced by dietary nutrients, suggesting potential synergistic biological effects promoting absorption. Therefore, integrating nutrient synergy theory with carrier construction is an effective approach for preparing highly absorbable carotenoid nutritional supplements.