SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION AND HEMOCOMPATIBILITY EVALUATION OF CURCUMIN ENCAPSULATED CHITOSAN NANOPARTICLES FOR ORAL DELIVERY

Curcumin has a diverse therapeutic potential in health and disease. However, the poor aqueous solubility and low bioavailability of Curcumin have limited its potential when administrated orally. The aim of this study was to assess the potential of nanoparticles to improve the pharmacokinetics of Curcumin, with a primary goal of enhancing its bioavailability. Chitosan nanoparticles containing Curcumin (CCN1, CCN2 and CCN3) formulations were synthesized by ionic gelation of chitosan with tripolyphosphate anions (TPP) resulting in particles size smaller than 224 nm. The encapsulation efficiency of nanoformulations was over 73%. The nanoformulations exhibited slow and sustained in vitro release over 53% of Curcumin from the Curcumin encapsulated chitosan nanoparticles after 12 hours in PBS at pH 7.4 when freeze-dried particles were used. The nanoformulations were stable, hemocompatible and produced no hemolysis.