Astaxanthin is a xanthophyll of great interest in animal nutrition and human health. The market prospect in the nutraceutics industries for this health-protective molecule is very promising. Astaxanthin is synthesized by several bacteria, algae and plants from beta-carotene by the sequential action of two enzymes: a beta-carotene, 3,3'-hydroxylase that introduces an hydroxyl group at the 3 (and...

29 Maize was genetically engineered for the biosynthesis of the high value carotenoid 30 astaxanthin in the kernel endosperm. Introduction of a -carotene hydroxylase and a 31 carotene ketolase into a white maize genetic background extended the carotenoid pathway to 32 astaxanthin. Simultaneously, phytoene synthase, the controlling enzyme of carotenogenesis, 33 was over-expressed for enhanced ...

Anti-oxidative activities of mytiloxanthin, a metabolite of fucoxanthin in shellfish and tunicates, were investigated. Mytiloxanthin showed almost the same activities for quenching singlet oxygen and the inhibition of lipid peroxidation as those of astaxanthin, which is a well-known singlet oxygen quencher. Furthermore, mytiloxanthin showed excellent scavenging activity for hydroxyl radicals an...

The incorporation of lipophilic nutrients, such as astaxanthin (a fat soluble carotenoid) in nanodispersion systems can either increase the water solubility, stability and bioavailability or widen their applications in aqueous food and pharmaceutical formulations. In this research, gelatin and its combinations with sucrose oleate as a small molecular emulsifier, sodium caseinate (SC) as a prote...

Astaxanthin, a red C40 carotenoid, is one of the most abundant marine carotenoids. It is currently used as a food and feed additive in a hundred-ton scale and is furthermore an attractive component for pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications with antioxidant activities. Corynebacterium glutamicum, which naturally synthesizes the yellow C50 carotenoid decaprenoxanthin, is an industrially releva...

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of astaxanthin-enriched diet on blood pressure, cardiac hypertrophy, both vascular structure and function and superoxide ((*)O(2-)) production in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Twelve-week-old SHR were treated for 8 weeks with an astaxanthin-enriched diet (75 or 200mg/kg body weight per day). Systolic blood pressure was monitorized pe...

BACKGROUND The emulsification-evaporation method was used to prepare astaxanthin nanodispersions using a three-component emulsifier system composed of Tween 20, sodium caseinate and gum Arabic. Using Response-surface methodology (RSM), we studied the main and interaction effects of the major emulsion components, namely, astaxanthin concentration (0.02-0.38 wt %, x1), emulsifier concentration (0...

Two human clinical studies were performed. One was an open-label non-controlled study involving 30 healthy female subjects for 8 weeks. Significant improvements were observed by combining 6 mg per day oral supplementation and 2 ml (78.9 μM solution) per day topical application of astaxanthin. Astaxanthin derived from the microalgae, Haematococcus pluvialis showed improvements in skin wrinkle (c...

BACKGROUND Red yeast, Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous is the only yeast known to produce astaxanthin, an anti-oxidant isoprenoid (carotenoid) widely used in the aquaculture, food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. The potential of this microorganism as a platform cell factory for isoprenoid production has been recognized because of high flux through its native terpene pathway. Recently, we ...

INTRODUCTION Many studies have shown that oral supplementation with astaxanthin may be a novel potential treatment for inflammation and oxidative stress in cardiovascular diseases, but evidence of the effects on lipid profile and glucose is still inconclusive. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of astaxanthin supplementation on plasma lipid and glucose concentratio...