Curcumin (Cur), extracted from the Curcuma longa L. plant, is well known for its anti-tumor, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties. Nanofiber mats of polylactic acid (PLA) loading Cur (5 wt%) were fabricated by electrospinning (e-spinning). Morphology and structure of the fibers were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, respectively. The diameters of the obtained fibers varied from 200 to 300 nm. The release capacity of curcumin from curcumin-loaded PLA fibers was investigated in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) containing ethanol. After 24 h, 50% of the curcumin was released from curcumin-loaded PLA fibers. These results of electrospun (e-spun) fibers exhibit the potential for biomedical application.

Being naturally abundant resources and having many interesting physicochemical and biological properties, chitin/chitosan have been found to be useful in many fields, especially biomedical ones. This paper describes the strategy to design multifunctional, hybrid chitosan-based nanomaterials and test them in some typical biomedical applications.

The study was conducted to evaluate the influence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (Rhizophagus intradices) on growth and polyphenol production of the two important and popular medicinal plants in Vietnam: Ehretia asperula Zoll. & Mor. and Solanum procumbens Lour. The results showed a significant effect of the fungus on the growth of these two species with the growth indices such as height, weight and P content that were all higher than those of non-AM plants; although the indices of AM symbiosis in the plant roots were not as high as other plants in previous studies. The effect of AM fungus on polyphenol production was different between the two species. In E. asperula, the effect of AM fungi on polyphenol production was not significant; whereas in S. procumbens, AM symbiosis significantly increased polyphenol production in plant biomass, especially in roots. The different growth times of the two species might cause the different effects of AM fungus on polyphenol production.