Comparison of the bioavailability and intestinal absorption sites of phytoene, phytofluene, lycopene and β-carotene

摘要

The mechanisms of main tomato carotenes (phytoene, phytofluene, lycopene and beta-carotene) intestinal absorption are still only partly understood. We thus compared carotene bioavailability in mice after gavage with carotene-rich oil-in-water emulsions. We also determined each carotene absorption profile along the duodenalileal axis of the intestine to identify their respective absorption sites and compared these profiles with the gene expression sites of their identified transporters, i.e. SR-BI and CD36. Our data show that phytofluene presented a significantly higher bioavailability compared to lycopene and beta-carotene (areas under the curve of 0.76 +/- 0.09 vs. 0.30 +/- 0.05, 0.09 +/- 0.05 and 0.08 +/- 0.01 mu mol/L.h for phytofluene, phytoene, lycopene and beta-carotene, respectively). beta-Carotene was mostly converted in the proximal and median intestine. Phytoene and phytofluene accumulation tended to be more important in the distal intestine, which did not correlate with the proximal expression of both Scarb1 and CD36. Overall, these results highlight the high bioavailability of phytofluene.