Oral bioavailability of curcumin: problems and advancements

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Curcumin is a natural compound of Curcuma longa L. and has shown many pharmacological activities such as anti-inﬂammatory, anti-oxidant in both preclinical and clinical studies. Moreover, curcumin has hepatoprotective, neuroprotective activities and protects against myocardial infarction. Particularly, curcumin has also demonstrated favorite anticancer efficacy. But limiting factors such as its extremely low oral bioavailability hampers its application as therapeutic agent. Therefore, many technologies have been developed and applied to overcome this limitation. This review described the main physicochemical properties of curcumin and summarized the recent studies in the design and development of oral delivery systems for curcumin to enhance the solubility and oral bioavailability, including liposomes, nanoparticles and polymeric micelles, phospholipid complexes, and microemulsions.

Related collections

Most cited references 48

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Microemulsion-based media as novel drug delivery systems.

M.Jayne Lawrence, Gareth Rees (2000)

Microemulsions are clear, stable, isotropic mixtures of oil, water and surfactant, frequently in combination with a cosurfactant. These systems are currently of interest to the pharmaceutical scientist because of their considerable potential to act as drug delivery vehicles by incorporating a wide range of drug molecules. In order to appreciate the potential of microemulsions as delivery vehicles, this review gives an overview of the formation and phase behaviour and characterization of microemulsions. The use of microemulsions and closely related microemulsion-based systems as drug delivery vehicles is reviewed, with particular emphasis being placed on recent developments and future directions.

0 comments Cited 237 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Curcumin has potent anti-amyloidogenic effects for Alzheimer's beta-amyloid fibrils in vitro.

Kenjiro Ono, Kazuhiro Hasegawa, Hironobu Naiki … (2004)

Inhibition of the accumulation of amyloid beta-peptide (Abeta) and the formation of beta-amyloid fibrils (fAbeta) from Abeta, as well as the destabilization of preformed fAbeta in the central nervous system, would be attractive therapeutic targets for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We reported previously that nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA) and wine-related polyphenols inhibit fAbeta formation from Abeta(1-40) and Abeta(1-42) and destabilize preformed fAbeta(1-40) and fAbeta(1-42) dose-dependently in vitro. Using fluorescence spectroscopic analysis with thioflavin T and electron microscopic studies, we examined the effects of curcumin (Cur) and rosmarinic acid (RA) on the formation, extension, and destabilization of fAbeta(1-40) and fAbeta(1-42) at pH 7.5 at 37 degrees C in vitro. We next compared the anti-amyloidogenic activities of Cur and RA with NDGA. Cur and RA dose-dependently inhibited fAbeta formation from Abeta(1-40) and Abeta(1-42), as well as their extension. In addition, they dose-dependently destabilized preformed fAbetas. The overall activities of Cur, RA, and NDGA were similar. The effective concentrations (EC(50)) of Cur, RA, and NDGA for the formation, extension, and destabilization of fAbetas were in the order of 0.1-1 microM. Although the mechanism by which Cur and RA inhibit fAbeta formation from Abeta and destabilize preformed fAbeta in vitro remains unclear, they could be a key molecule for the development of therapeutics for AD. Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

0 comments Cited 206 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Progress of drug-loaded polymeric micelles into clinical studies.

Horacio Cabral, Kazunori Kataoka (2014)

Targeting tumors with long-circulating nano-scaled carriers is a promising strategy for systemic cancer treatment. Compared with free small therapeutic agents, nanocarriers can selectively accumulate in solid tumors through the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect, which is characterized by leaky blood vessels and impaired lymphatic drainage in tumor tissues, and achieve superior therapeutic efficacy, while reducing side effects. In this way, drug-loaded polymeric micelles, i.e. self-assemblies of amphiphilic block copolymers consisting of a hydrophobic core as a drug reservoir and a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrophilic shell, have demonstrated outstanding features as tumor-targeted nanocarriers with high translational potential, and several micelle formulations are currently under clinical evaluation. This review summarizes recent efforts in the development of these polymeric micelles and their performance in human studies, as well as our recent progress in polymeric micelles for the delivery of nucleic acids and imaging. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.