Abstract
We have demonstrated the loading of curcumin onto starch maleate (SM) under mild conditions by mixing dissolved curcumin and SM nanoparticles separately in absolute ethanol and ethanol/aqueous (40 : 60 v/v), respectively. Curcumin-loaded starch-maleate (CurSM) nanoparticles were subsequently precipitated from a homogeneous mixture of these solutions in absolute ethanol based on the solvent exchange method. TEM analysis indicated that the diameters of CurSM nanoparticles were ranged between 30 nm and 110 nm with a mean diameter of 50 nm. The curcumin loading capacity of SM as a function of loading duration was investigated using the UV-visible spectrophotometer. The loading of curcumin onto SM increased rapidly initially with loading duration, and the curcumin loading capacity of 15 mg/g was reached within 12 hours. CurSM nanoparticles exhibited substantially higher water solubility of 6.0 × 10−2 mg/mL which is about 300 times higher than that of pure curcumin. With enhanced water solubility and bioaccessibility of curcumin, the potential utility of CurSM nanoparticles in various biomedical applications is therefore envisaged.
Highlights
Curcumin, a non-toxic bioactive component of turmeric even at high dosage [1], has attracted considerable attention especially for its pharmacological activities such as anticarcinogenic [2, 3], anti-inflammatory [4, 5], and antioxidant [6]
Curcumin was successfully loaded onto starch-maleate monoester (SM) and subsequently formed discrete Curcumin-loaded starch-maleate (CurSM) nanoparticles of irregular distorted spherical shape via the nanoprecipitation process in absolute ethanol
The Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) micrograph shows CurSM nanoparticles of distorted spherical shape which could be attributed to their high sensitivity to gelation in the presence of water
Summary
A non-toxic bioactive component of turmeric even at high dosage [1], has attracted considerable attention especially for its pharmacological activities such as anticarcinogenic [2, 3], anti-inflammatory [4, 5], and antioxidant [6]. The utility of curcumin in clinical development and applications is limited by its low water solubility and poor bioavailability [7]. The solubility of curcumin in water is reported to be 1.99 × 10−4 mg/mL [8]. Any drawback due to poor water solubility of hydrophobic bioactive agents such as curcumin could be circumvented via the development of nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems that are dispersible in aqueous media. Intense research efforts have been focused on developing curcuminloaded polymeric nanoparticles for enhancing the water solubility of curcumin. Anand and co-researchers [11] have reported the synthesis of curcumin-loaded PLGA nanoparticles with enhanced water solubility. Curcumin is pharmacologically safe for human beings, the efficacy of curcumin-loaded synthetic polymers has remained uncertain
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