Flavonoids Loaded in Nanocarriers: An Opportunity to Increase Oral Bioavailability and Bioefficacy

Abstract

Flavonoids are among the biggest group of polyphenols, widely distributed in plant-based foods. A plethora of evidence supports the health benefits and value of flavonoids can play in the physiological function treatment and in the prevention of disease particularly in the prevention of degenerative conditions including cancers, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. Hence, flavonoids represent the active constituents of many dietary supplements and herbal remedies, as well as there is an increasing interest in this class of polyphenols as functional ingredients of beverages, food grains and dairy products. Conversely, various studies have also shown that flavonoids have some drawbacks after oral administration such as stability, bioavailability and bioefficacy. This article reviews the current status of novel nanodelivery systems including nanospheres, nanocaspsules, micro-and nanoemulsions, micelles, solid lipid nanoparticles and nanostructured lipid capsules, successfully developed for overcoming the delivery challenges of flavonoids.

Nanoencapsulation of dietary flavonoid fisetin: Formulation and in vitro antioxidant and α-glucosidase inhibition activities

“…Several evidences have revealed that polymeric NPs are suitable carriers for the oral administration of bioactive flavonoids because improve the solubilization and physico-chemical stability, enhance the bioavailability by increasing the absorption from enterocytes, and maintain the therapeutic levels in blood and plasma, with a significant improvement in mean residence time as well as bioavailability [35,36].…”

Antioxidant, Cytotoxicity, and Stability Evaluation of Ginkgo Biloba Extract-Based Microemulsions for Enhanced Therapeutic Activity

“…The current research trends in pharmaceutical industries exhibit the preference of phytocompounds over the chemically fabricated drugs due to their comparatively higher patient compliance, with less side effects [16]. Standardized extract of G. biloba, has higher content of potential compounds such as flavonoids, polyphenols, and terpenoids, but these compounds are not very stable and get degraded easily in gut and other tissue fluids and also have shorter shelf life [17].…”

Liposomal and Phytosomal Formulations

“…By the use of silymarin phytosomes, rat foetuses were protected against ethanol-induced toxicity (Busby et al 2002), the broiler chicks were also found to be safe against aflatoxin B1 (Tedesco et al 2004) and the serum ferritin levels got reduced in the chronic hepatitis C patients (Bares et al 2008). The increase in solubility can be accounted on the basis of binding of silymarin to the polar head of phospholipids (Bilia et al 2014). Silibin, an antioxidant isolated from milk thistle is a polyphenol flavonolignan.…”