Carotenoid Extraction from Goji Fruits

For carotenoid extraction, 1 g of powdered fruits was suspended in 10 mL of ethyl lactate, and 100 mg of α-tocopherol (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) was added as an antioxidant [52 (link)]. The samples were placed in a water bath at 45 °C for 60 min, centrifuged (4500 rpm, 15 min), and the supernatants were collected. The absorbance was measured at 450 nm and 503 nm. The concentration of carotenoids was calculated according to the following equation [43 (link)];

The results are expressed as the arithmetic mean from three independent experiments in milligrams of carotenoids per 1 g of goji fruits.