Oral Delivery of Ellagic Acid Encapsulated in Milk Exosomes: Sex-Based Differences in Bioavailability, Urolithin Production, and Gut Microbiota Modulation.

ABSTRACT: Milk exosomes (EXOs) enhance polyphenols' bioavailability, but their potential for oral administration remains underexplored. Ellagic acid (EA) is poorly bioavailable. We investigate whether EA encapsulated in EXOs (EXO-EA) consumed orally improves EA bioavailability and (or) modulates gut microbiota. For 2 weeks, BALB/c mice received EXO, non-encapsulated EA (NEA), or EXO-EA (0.27 mg EA/kg bw) orally. Targeted and untargeted metabolomics (UPLC-qTOF-MS), fecal SCFAs (GC-MS), and gut microbiota (PacBio 16S-sequencing) were performed. Additionally, EA plasma and brain kinetics were evaluated in rats following intravenous administration of EXO-EA and NEA. Unlike NEA, EXO-EA quadrupled EA plasma levels in Sprague-Dawley rats and enabled brain detection. However, oral EXO-EA in mice failed to d

SUBMITTER: Avila-Galvez MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12319510 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature