Table 2. Pharmacokinetic parameters^* of carotenoids and lutein in rat serum after oral administration of carotenoid microemulsion and dispersion at 2 and 20 mg/kg bw, respectively.

Parameters	Oral administration		Intravenous injection of microemulsion
	Dispersion in oil	Microemulsion
Carotenoids
Tmax (min)b	240	480	–
Cmax (ng/mL)c	0.50 ±  0.20	2.20 ±  1.20a	310.13 ±  30.14
t1/2 (min)d	1167.83 ±  699.74	1520.75 ±  731.25	215.17 ±  90.19
AUC (min μ g/mL)e	0.46 ±  0.29	1.83 ±  1.02a	40.80 ±  6.55
Oral bioavailability (%)	0.11 ±  0.07	0.45 ±  0.25a	–
Lutein
Tmax (min)b	240	480	–
Cmax (ng/mL)c	0.50 ±  0.20	2.20 ±  1.20a	99.87 ±  11.45
t1/2 (min)d	1167.83 ±  699.74	1520.75 ±  731.25	15.73 ±  2.79
AUC (min μ g/mL)e	0.46 ±  0.29	1.83 ±  1.02a	2.95 ±  0.37
Oral bioavailability (%)	1.57 ±  1.00	6.25 ±  3.50a	–

^*Data expressed as mean ±  standard deviation (n =  6 for each group).

^aSignificantly different (p <  0.05) data when compared with dispersion group as determined by Student’s t-test.

^bTime to reach C_max.

^cMaximum serum concentration.

^dTime to reach half concentration.

^eArea under the concentration-time curve.