Antiinflammatory activity of carnauba wax microparticles containing curcumin

Abstract

The pharmacokinetic of curcumin has posed a challenge to its therapeutic efficacy. Drug encapsulation systems, particularly microparticles, are promising due to their ability to protect compounds against both physical and chemical degradation and to improve their bioactivity. The aim of the present study was to prepare curcumin loaded solid lipid microparticles from carnauba wax and evaluate its antiinflammatory efficacy. Microparticles were obtained by hot homogenization technique and characterized by scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction demonstrating the effective encapsulation of curcumin. Antiinflammatory efficacy was evaluated comparing free curcumin and curcumin encapsulated by carrageenan-induced paw edema in rats. Additionally, myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity and concentration of nitric oxide (NO) were evaluated in plantar tissue of rats. Microparticles showed regular and spherical morphology with 20 μm diameter. Thermal, spectroscopic, X-ray and images analysis demonstrated the encapsulation of curcumin in the lipid matrix. The evaluation of antiinflammatory activity showed that encapsulated curcumin at doses of 25 and 50 mg kg−1 were more effective than free curcumin at lower doses of 25 and 50 mg.kg−1 and had similar efficacy to free curcumin at dose a 400 mg.kg−1, inhibiting the development of edema, myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, and the increase in nitric oxide (NO) levels. Overall, curcumin microparticles were obtained with high encapsulation efficiency and antiinflammatory efficacy 16-fold better than free curcumin.