Oral delivery of curcumin via porous polymeric nanoparticles for effective ulcerative colitis therapy

Abstract

Oral drug delivery has been considered as a promising strategy for ulcerative colitis (UC) therapy. Here, an emulsion solvent evaporation technique was employed to prepare non-porous curcumin (CUR)-loaded polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) and porous CUR-loaded polymeric NPs in the absence or presence of ammonium bicarbonate. The resultant CUR-loaded NPs (non-porous NPs and porous NPs) had a desirable mean particle size of around 260 nm with a narrow size distribution, a uniform pore size distribution, slightly negative-charged surface, high encapsulation efficiency and controlled drug release capacity. In vitro experiments indicated that Raw 264.7 macrophages exhibited time-dependent accumulation profiles of NPs during the initial 2 h of co-incubation. Furthermore, we found that porous NPs inhibited the secretion of the main pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-12) and the production of reactive oxygen species much more efficiently than non-porous NPs. Most importantly, in vivo studies demonstrated that oral administered porous NPs had a superior therapeutic efficiency in alleviating UC compared with non-porous NPs. The results collectively suggest that porous polymeric NPs can be exploited as efficient oral drug carriers for UC treatment.

Enhanced Transport of Shape and Rigidity-Tuned α-Lactalbumin Nanotubes across Intestinal Mucus and Cellular Barriers

“…In particular, the least weight loss was found in the SNTs/Cur treated group and was followed by SNSs/Cur-, LNTs/Cur-, CSNTs/Cur-, BNSs/Cur-, and Cur-treated groups in increasing order. Besides the weight loss, the colon length shortening, epithelial destruction, and inflammatory cell infiltration were also important indicators for DSS-induced colitis in mice . Our results indicated that the colon length of DSS-induced UC mice was significantly shorter than that of the healthy group but a certain degree of recovery occurred after different Cur treatments (Figure B).…”

“…Besides the weight loss, the colon length shortening, epithelial destruction, and inflammatory cell infiltration were also important indicators for DSS-induced colitis in mice. 35 Our results indicated that the colon length of DSS-induced UC mice was significantly shorter than that of the healthy group but a certain degree of recovery occurred after different Cur treatments (Figure 5B). SNTs/Cur possessed the best recovery effect on colon length, and it is more obvious than Cur and other groups.…”

Reactive-oxygen-species-scavenging nanomaterials for resolving inflammation

“…8 A) [ 87 ]. Recently, curcumin has been increasingly used in inhibiting oxidative stress and inflammation, in protecting cells in the central nervous system [ [87] , [88] , [89] ], and in treating chronic ulcers [ 90 , 91 ] and I/R injury [ 92 , 93 ].

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Porous discoidal polymeric particles for effective drug delivery minimizing phagocytosis

“…Nanoparticle's shape, size distribution, and zeta potential play an essential role in regulating their release, cellular uptake, and in vivo bio distribution [23]. Therefore, designing the nanoparticles in terms of shape, size, and surface chemistry can maximize therapeutic efficacy.…”

“…Porous DPPs showed a high drug-loading amount compared to non-porous, which can be beneficial for an efficient drug delivery system (Table 1). The higher loading amount can be explained because of decomposition products of ammonium bicarbonate, which lowers the vapour pressure of organic solvents and accelerate the solidification of the polymeric matrix [23]. In vitro cytotoxicity of porous and non-porous DPPs at a given concentration (10-80 mg/ml).…”