Vitamins and minerals fortified emulsion of omega-3 fatty acids for the management of preterm birth: In-vitro, in-silico, and in-vivo studies

Developing an oral palatable emulsion of omega-3 fatty acids (omega-3) fortified with vitamins and minerals is a daunting task. Presently, such a combination is not available in the market. Therefore, the present study focuses to develop o/w emulsion for omega-3 fortified with essential vitamins and minerals with better physio-chemical stability, organoleptic properties, and bioaccessibility. The optimized formulation was milky yellowish having 146 +/- 28 nm globule size, 0.372 polydispersity index,-17.2 +/- 3.8 mV zeta potential, 3.74 +/- 0.1 pH, 990 +/- 20 cP viscosity with improved oxidative stability and bioaccessibility. Peroxide content and rancimat analysis displayed an increase in oxidative stability whereas, in-vitro DHA absorption and in-vivo serum FTIC-dextran permeability studies confirmed the better oral bioaccessibility for optimized-formulation in comparison to pure oil and commercially available counterpart. Further, in-silico computational screening revealed a high af-finity of DHA with AKR1C3 enzyme that may lead to induction of uterine contraction thus helps in preventing preterm births (PTB). In addition, results from in-vivo pharmacodynamic studies demonstrated a 60.02% reduction in PTB cases when treated with the fortified omega-3 formulation in comparison to the lipopolysaccharide treated positive control group. Thus, the results demonstrated a novel fortified oral palatable emulsion of omega-3 that can maintain a healthy pregnancy and manage the risk of PTB.