Biomedical Research

Curcumin (CUR), a yellow polyphenol compound is reportedly associated with a diverse therapeutic potential. Despite all curative properties of CUR, its usage in oral administration is restricted due to low bioavailability, low aqueous solubility and poor absorption rate. The aim of this study was to develop a nontoxic nanocurcumin (CUR-NPs) with enhanced bioavailability. For this reason, the CUR was first capped by polyethylene glycol (PEG) and then encapsulated into chitosan-gelatin nanoparticles (CS-G NPs). The PEG act as a co-solvent and CS-G act as a drug carrier biodegradable polymer. The efficiency and solubility of nanocurcumin were determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and high liquid chromatography (HPLC). Under TEM, the nanocurcumin were spherical in shape with average size of 300-400 nm. Zeta potential was 43.23 mV with 69.29% entrapment at 17.11% loading capacity. The solubility rate increased up to 2000 fold. The in-vitro drug release profile at PH 3.4 and PH 7.2 indicated a slow and controlled release at a constant rate. The release-rate is affected by size and loading capacity of NPs. In summary, the bioavailability of CUR-NPs was improved. Additionally, our procedure represents a mild and safety process for synthesizing efficient CUR-NPs, as we have not use any organic or toxic solvents.

Author(s): Poopak Farnia, Saeed Mollaei, Afshin Bahrami, Alireza Ghassempour, Ali Akbar Velayati, Jalaledin Ghanavi
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