Receptor-mediated oral delivery systems for liposoluble nutrients: Engineering intestinal epithelial affinity binding to enhance bioavailability

The capture efficiency of fat-soluble nutrients by intestinal absorptive cells is one of the most important factors affecting the bioavailability of fat-soluble nutrients. Intestinal epithelial cells express multiple receptors on their surfaces that are capable of affinity-mediated interactions with their ligands. Therefore, the integration of ligand substances that can bind to the receptors of intestinal epithelial cells into the delivery system, thereby facilitating the capture of fat-soluble nutrients by the intestinal cells, is an effective strategy to improve the oral bioavailability of fat-soluble nutrients. This review describes the differences in distribution and expression of intestinal epithelial receptors in different intestinal segments and summarizes the interaction mechanisms between food-derived ligand molecules and these receptors. Additionally, we innovatively propose the construction of oral delivery vectors based on intestinal epithelial affinity-binding strategies. This approach involves integrating food ligands that specifically recognize intestinal epithelial receptors into delivery vehicles, enabling the specific recognition and efficient capture of fat-soluble nutrients by intestinal epithelial cells. Since affinity binding to biological interfaces, especially cell membranes, influences the efficiency of intestinal cell uptake of lipid-soluble nutrients, incorporating food-derived ligand molecules into the delivery vehicle to facilitate the capture of lipid-soluble nutrients by intestinal epithelial cells should be an effective strategy to improve their efficiency of intestinal absorption.