Curcumin Delivery Mediated by Bio-Based Nanoparticles: A Review

Abstract

Todays, nano-pharmaceutics is emerging as an important field of science to develop and improve efficacy of different drugs. Although nutraceuticals are currently being utilized in the prevention and treatment of various chronic diseases such as cancers, a number of them have displayed issues associated with their solubility, bioavailability, and bio-degradability. In the present review, we focus on curcumin, an important and widely used polyphenol, with diverse pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, anti-viral, etc. Notwithstanding, it also exhibits poor solubility and bioavailability that may compromise its clinical application to a great extent. Therefore, the manipulation and encapsulation of curcumin into a nanocarrier formulation can overcome these major drawbacks and potentially may lead to a far superior therapeutic efficacy. Among different types of nanocarriers, biological and biopolymer carriers have attracted a significant attention due to their pleiotropic features. Thus, in the present review, the potential protective and therapeutic applications of curcumin, as well as different types of bio-nanocarriers, which can be used to deliver curcumin effectively to the different target sites will be discussed.

Nanocurcumin: A Promising Candidate for Therapeutic Applications

“…Both in vitro and in vivo conditions, liposomes are ideal delivery systems for biologically active substances. Liposomes have many advantages such as high biocompatibility and biodegradability, high stability, low toxicity, better solubility, targeting specific cells, controlled distribution, flexibility, and easy preparation (Moballegh Nasery et al, 2020). Thus, liposomes are strong drug-carrier system to date and preferred by researchers.…”

Key Developments in the Potential of Curcumin for the Treatment of Peripheral Neuropathies

“…Recently, chemical modifications of curcumin and the development of various types of biopolymers used as carriers were shown to improve the solubility, the bioavailability, and the pharmacokinetics profile of curcumin [ 37 , 38 ]. However, although these new curcumin formulations allow the use of lower doses (that are compatible with clinical application), to date, only few of these formulations have been studied in the context of PN ( Table 1 ).…”

Plant-Derived Natural Products in Cancer Research: Extraction, Mechanism of Action, and Drug Formulation

“…Liposomes (characterized by the presence of one or more phospholipid bilayers surrounding an aqueous inner space) are considered as ideal delivery systems for biologically active substances due to their high stability, high biocompatibility and biodegradability, high solubility, low toxicity, targeting specific cells, controlled distribution, and easy preparation [421].…”