Formulation, Characterization and Biological Activity Screening of Sodium Alginate-Gum Arabic Nanoparticles Loaded with Curcumin.

Abdelkader Hassani,Hamid Hammad Enezei,Siti Aslina Hussain,Syed Mahmood,Hamad Ali Hamad,Abd Almonem Doolaanea,Abdullah Hagar,Wisam Nabeel Ibrahim,Ahmed Faris Aldoghachi

doi:10.3390/molecules25092244

Abstract

The approach of drug delivery systems emphasizes the use of nanoparticles as a vehicle, offering the optional property of delivering drugs as a single dose rather than in multiple doses. The current study aims to improve antioxidant and drug release properties of curcumin loaded gum Arabic-sodium alginate nanoparticles (Cur/ALG-GANPs). The Cur/ALG-GANPs were prepared using the ionotropic gelation technique and further subjected to physico-chemical characterization using attenuated total reflectance–Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), size distribution, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The size of Cur/ALG-GANPs ranged between 10 ± 0.3 nm and 190 ± 0.1 nm and the zeta potential was –15 ± 0.2 mV. The antioxidant study of Cur/ALG-GANPs exhibited effective radical scavenging capacity for 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) at concentrations that ranged between 30 and 500µg/mL. Cytotoxicity was performed using MTT assay to measure their potential in inhibiting the cell growth and the result demonstrated a significant anticancer activity of Cur/ALG-GANPs against human liver cancer cells (HepG2) than in colon cancer (HT29), lung cancer (A549) and breast cancer (MCF7) cells. Thus, this study indicates that Cur/ALG-GANPs have promising anticancer properties that might aid in future cancer therapy.

Highlights

Drug development for the treatment of cancer is currently one of the most extensive areas being funded and researched
This study signifies the successful nanoencapsulation of curcumin into sodium alginate-gum arabic nanoparticles by using the ionotropic gelation technique
The results suggested that the characterization of Cur/ALG-GANPs nanoparticles using ATR-FTIR, X-ray diffractometry (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) confirm the incorporation of curcumin into ALG-gum arabic (GA) nanocavity

Summary

Introduction

Drug development for the treatment of cancer is currently one of the most extensive areas being funded and researched. Among the many obstacles facing these therapeutic agents is their limited absorption and retention by cancer cells which lead to toxic effects in normal tissue cells [1,2,3,4] In this quest, the development of nanoparticle formulations of different therapeutic agents served in providing a better delivery tool of chemotherapies with better dosage and targeting precision to the tumor site [5,6,7,8,9]. Curcumin possesses diverse therapeutic applications in chronic inflammatory diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and in cancer cells due to its antioxidant and pro apoptotic properties [19] These medical applications were challenged by the poor bioavailability of Curcumin at the target tissue site. Using these polymers provides a feasible approach to enhance the bioavailability of curcumin [21]

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Discussion

Conclusion