ASIAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH AND HEALTH CARE
Abstract
Liver targeting drug delivery systems can improve thedelivery of several drugs useful in the treatment of liverdisorders such as cirrhosis and liver cancer. Theobjective of this study was to prepare the biodegradablenanoparticles containing curcumin, a well-knownhepatoprotective agent and further to evaluate the livertargetability and sustained release of curcumin with thedeveloped nanoformulation. Curcumin nanoparticleswere prepared by double emulsion (w/o/w) solventevaporation method using different drug polymer ratios.Poly-ε-caprolactone was used in the preparation. Theprepared formulations were evaluated for particles size,surface potential, entrapment efficiency, in vitro release,drug polymer interaction. Four different formulationsCNP1, CNP2, CNP3 and CNP4 were prepared.Optimized formulation (CNP3) was evaluated forpharmacokinetics and hepatoprotective activity in CCl4induced liver toxicity model after i.v. administration.Optimized formulation was selected based on the size,entrapment efficiency and release characteristics.Curcumin i.v. solution and oral suspension form wereused as the reference. Particle size of all formulationswas in the range of 300-470 nm and the entrapmentefficiencies were in the range of 75-85 %. Drug releasefrom the nanoparticles was sustained both in vitro and invivo. Nanoparticle formulation tested in vivodemonstrated better pharmacokinetics andpharmacodynamics compared to the reference. Druglevels in the liver were significantly higher withnanoparticular formulation. Thus, this studysuccessfully prepared a nanoparticular formulationcontaining curcumin with polycaprolactone as thepolymer. With the developed formulation better livertargetability was achieved
