Green surfactant based synthesis of curcumin loaded poly lactic-co-glycolic acid nanoparticles with enhanced solubility, photo-stability and anti-biofilm activity

Abstract

Curcumin, a polyphenol, has demonstrated bactericidal efficacy against a variety of infections in several clinical studies but unfortunately it has limited usage due to low water solubility and high degradability at neutral to basic pH conditions. In the present study, we optimised nanoprecipitation process using plant extracts (as green surfactants) for the synthesis of curcumin loaded poly lactic-co-glycolic acid nanoparticles. We optimised drug entrapment in curcumin loaded poly lactic-co-glycolic acid nanoparticles, attaining particles of ~90 ± 10 nm and drug loading of ~98 ± 2 μg curcumin/mg of nanoparticles. The in vitro release experiments have shown that these nanoparticles were able to release ~45% of their cargo in 8 h. Photo-stability experiments revealed ~22 ± 7.5% increase in photostability of curcumin loaded poly lactic-co-glycolic acid nanoparticles and solubility studies showed ~13 ± 2 fold increase in solubility. The developed nanoformulation displayed strong anti-bacterial efficacy against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, compared to pure curcumin. These nanoparticles also disrupted the biofilm formed by these bacteria. The developed curcumin nanoformulation showed strong cytotoxicity towards HepG2 cells whereas these were found to be cytocompatible towards HEK293 cells. The present nanoformulation may be used for wound healing applications to prevent bacterial infection as well as an anticancer agent.