Simple and novel icariin-loaded pro-glycymicelles as a functional food: physicochemical characteristics, biological activities, and experimental hyperlipidemia prevention evaluations.

A novel functional food for hyperlipidemia named icariin (ICA) pro-glycymicelles (ICA-PGs) using glycyrrhizin as a phytonanomaterial was easily prepared with improved storage, pH, and salt stabilities. ICA-PGs can easily dissolve in water to self-assemble into a clear glycymicelle solution with high ICA encapsulation efficiency. The ICA in ICA-PGs exhibits significantly increased aqueous solubility, faster release, and higher bioaccessibility than bare ICA. The ICA-PGs exhibited improved activities including antioxidant, anti-α-glucosidase, anti-lipase, and anti-cholesterol esterase activities. The ICA-PG also demonstrated improved antioxidant activity in cells. evaluation confirmed that the ICA-PG demonstrated a significant protective effect against experimental hyperlipidemia in mice, exhibiting decreasing levels of triglycerides (TGs), total cholesterol (TC), and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) in the serum, and restoring the hepatic morphology to the normal state. These results indicated that the ICA-PG could improve / profiles of ICA, providing a new concept and a promising functional food for hyperlipidemia.