Abstract
Low aqueous solubility and poor bioavailability of curcumin have limited its application in various fields. One approach to address this issue is to formulate a nanosuspension that incorporates curcumin, which has been previously shown to exhibit remarkably improved solubility in comparison with that of a bare compound. In this study, the preparation process of curcumin nanosuspension was optimized with a median particle size as the outcome. Gum arabic was used as a natural polymeric surfactant and the suspension was formulated using high speed homogenization. Optimization results, realized via a response surface methodology, showed that a minimum median particle size (8.524 µm) could be attained under the following conditions: curcumin:gum arabic ratio of 1:6 g/g; homogenization speed of 8300 rpm and homogenization time of 40 min. Under these conditions, the particle size of obtained suspension was shown to be consistent for around seven days without major aggregation. The homogenization process could be scaled up to five times in terms of suspension volume. TEM also showed that curcumin nanoparticles had a nearly spherical shape and homogeneous structure with a size range of 40–80 nm.
Highlights
Curcumin, a constituent derived from the rhizome of turmeric (Curcuma longa), has been a promising lead for drug development due to a wide spectrum of biological activities [1]
We explored the possibility and the process of formulating a curcumin nanosuspension system using gum arabic (GA), a natural biopolymer, as the surfactant
A curcumin nanosuspension was prepared with gum arabic as a stabilizer by using high-speed homogenization
Summary
A constituent derived from the rhizome of turmeric (Curcuma longa), has been a promising lead for drug development due to a wide spectrum of biological activities [1]. Clinical trials have suggested that curcumin might hold potential in the treatment of several diseases and cancers, such as gastric, colorectal, pancreatic and hepatic cancers [2]. Inexpensive and effortless production of curcumin greatly enhances the feasibility of using the compound in large-scale manufacturing in pharmaceutical industries. This is, bottlenecked by poor water solubility and limited bioavailability and absorption in oral administration of curcumin. Previous attempts aiming at improving the solubility and bioavailability of curcumin have been carried out with different strategies. Basniwal et al (2014) showed that curcumin nanoparticles, prepared using wet milling with dichloromethane solvent, exhibited improved solubility in water
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