Preparation of curcumin-carrying nanoemulsions using mono- and diacylglycerides enzymatically structured with bioactive fatty acids

Effect of Curcumin Nanoemulsions Stabilized with MAG and DAG-MCFAs in a Fructose-Induced Hepatic Steatosis Rat Model

“…In this research, curcumin NE were prepared using MAG and DAG enriched with MCFAs, resulting in a final particle size of 174 nm. Our findings are comparable with those reported by Esperón-Rojas et al (2020) [ 27 ], who obtained systems with particle sizes <200 nm ( Table 2 ). In this research, protocol modifications yielded smaller particle sizes by performing three sonication cycles instead of two; globule size decreased by 10 nm.…”

“…Emulsions were prepared in a 97:3 water-oil phase ratio with 1% emulsifier and 1% Kolliphor ® EL to dissolve curcumin as reported by Esperón-Rojas et al (2020) [ 27 ]. A modification to the proposed methodology was the sonication time; it was observed in preliminary runs, that subjecting the sample to 3 cycles instead of 2 was favorable in decreasing particle size.…”

“…It has been stated that producing a NE in the range of 20 to 200 nm provides benefits in terms of stability, a translucent appearance, bioavailability of lipophilic compounds, and a PDI of <0.5 indicates particle size distribution under a monomodal shape [ 35 ]. Entrapment efficiency (%EE) was determined to be 76%; nevertheless, this cannot be compared to data from Esperón-Rojas et al (2020) [ 27 ] since quantification of encapsulated curcumin was not determined. A total of 100% curcumin entrapment in NE systems has been previously reported when using other emulsifiers such as phosphatidylcholine and different techniques [ 30 ].…”

“…Oil/Water (O/W) curcumin NE were formulated using the previously obtained emulsifier of MAG and DAG enriched with medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs), as previously reported by our research group (Esperón-Rojas et al, 2020) [ 27 ], with slight modifications. Briefly, a proportion 3:97 O/W phases were used and prepared separately.…”

“…Additionally, NE differ from microemulsions, because of their smaller size and thermodynamic stability; nonetheless, they are adversely affected by changes in temperature and composition; therefore, NE are widely used in the food and pharmaceutical industries, even though they are thermodynamically unstable, meaning that eventually the phases will separate because of free energy difference [ 24 , 25 , 26 ]. To improve the stability of NE, structured emulsifiers such as monoacylglycerides (MAG) and diacylglycerides (DAG) enriched with medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) have been proposed, which not only provide stability to the system, but also confer health benefits to people with several metabolic disorders [ 27 ]; these emulsifiers are considered non-ionic small surfactant molecules commonly employed in food emulsions and as cosmetic and pharmaceutical emulsifiers. These acylglycerides are commonly produced by chemical processes using materials such as fats, oils, and glycerol that provide options to select the length of the chains that form them, providing a high impact on their functionality [ 28 ]; an example is CAPMUL ® , which can be used as a primary solubilizer or as an emulsifier.…”