The reaction kinetics for the hydrolysis of astaxanthin esters and the degradation of astaxanthin during saponification of the pigment extract from the microalga Haematococcus pluvialis were investigated. Different concentrations of sodium hydroxide in methanol were used for the saponification under nitrogen in darkness at ambient temperature (22 degrees C) followed by the analysis of astaxanth...

The IARC convened a Working Group of experts in December 1997 to evaluate the cancer-preventive potential of carotenoids and to compile the second volume of the IARC Handbooks of Cancer Prevention. In observational epidemiological studies, beta-carotene is associated with reduced risks for cancer at many but not all sites. It is unclear, however, to what extent beta-carotene itself is responsib...

A carotenoid biosynthesis gene cluster involved in canthaxanthin production was isolated from the photosynthetic Bradyrhizobium sp. strain ORS278. This cluster includes five genes identified as crtE, crtY, crtI, crtB, and crtW that are organized in at least two operons. The functional assignment of each open reading frame was confirmed by complementation studies.

Carotenoids and their metabolites are essential factors for the maintenance of important life processes such as photosynthesis. Animals cannot synthesize carotenoids de novo, they must obtain them via their food. In order to make intensive animal husbandry possible and maintain human and animal health synthetic nature identical carotenoids are presently commercially available at the multi-tonne...

A 2 x 2 x 2 factorial experiment was planned to study the influence of dietary fat source (linseed oil or sunflower oil) and dietary doses of alpha-tocopheryl acetate (alpha-TA) (0 or 200 mg/kg of feed) and canthaxanthin (CX) (0 or 5 mg/kg of feed) on fatty acid (FA) composition and lipid oxidation of fresh and spray-dried eggs. Dietary supplementation with alpha-TA and CX modified the levels o...

The biosynthesis of astaxanthin in the prawn was studied further using pure carotenoids and preparacions obtained from natural sources. Zeaxanthin, obtained from the Chinese lantern, was fed to the prawn, Penaeus japonicus Bate. Astaxanthin was biosynthesized from zeaxanthin, thus indicating the existence of a second pathway to astaxanthin in the prawn. Canthaxanthin and astaxanthin from crab w...

The ability of dietary supplementation with carotenoids to protect chick tissues against oxidative stress in vitro was examined. Male Leghorn chicks were fed on diets supplemented (100 mg supplement/kg diet) with either beta-carotene, zeaxanthin (beta,beta-carotene-3,3'-diol), canthaxanthin (beta,beta-carotene-4,4'-dione) or alpha-tocopherol, or on a control diet, from 1 d old until 37 d of age...

Xanthophylls, primarily hydroxyland keto-derivatives of β-carotene (such as zeaxanthin, β-cryptoxanthin, canthaxanthin, echinenone and astaxanthin) have powerful antioxidant activity. Due to several positive effects on human and animal health, industrial application of xanthophylls shows an increasing tendency. In our previous study, carotenoid biosynthesis of the β-carotene producing zygomycet...