Development of a Nano-Encapsulation Platform With a Novel Antioxidant Indigoidine for the Mitigation of Space Radiation

Weber State University

Space includes many hazards to the human species, one of the most detrimental to us is the biological damage from radiation. Loading an astronaut's immune system with free radical scavenging molecules as a potential shield from this damage is one method to prevent biologically relevant damage that has only been slightly explored. Unfortunately, the pharmacological potential of many antioxidants is severely restricted because of their low solubility/absorption. Here, I characterize a powerful delivery system that can deliver many different hydrophobic antioxidants to the cell, increasing their bioavailability. The novel antioxidant Indigoidine has been explored in this delivery system. It has been successfully encapsulated and shown as an increased colloidal suspension in aqueous solution thus, increasing the bioavailability to the human body.