Efficient encapsulation of curcumin into spent brewer’s yeast using a pH-driven method

Curcumin (CUR) was encapsulated into yeast cells (YCs) through a pH-driven method with a 5.04-fold increase in loading capacity and a 43.63-fold reduction in incubation time compared to the conventional diffusion method. Optimal encapsulation was obtained when the mass ratio of CUR to YCs was 0.1, and the loading capacity and encapsulation efficiency were 8.07% and 80.66%, respectively. Encapsulation of CUR into YCs was confirmed by fluorescence microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and thermogravimetric analysis. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction further demonstrated that the encapsulated CUR was interacted with mannoprotein and β-glucan of the cell wall network through hydrophobic interaction and hydrogen bond in amorphous state. The in vitro bioaccessibility of YCs-loaded CUR was significantly increased by 6.05-fold. The enhanced encapsulation efficiency and rapid encapsulation process proposed in this study could facilitate YCs-based microcarriers to encapsulate bioactive substances with higher bioaccessibility.