Curcumin bioactive nanosizing: Increase of bioavailability

Abstract Curcumin is a natural compound existing in Curcuma longa Linn, featuring great medicinal activity, including antitumor, and playing a role in the battle against Alzheimeŕs disease. However, it has low solubility and consequently its bioavailability is limited in aqueous medium. For such, several studies in the nanotechnology field are being performed aiming the improvement of its solubility. Nanotechnology is an important branch of materials engineering with several studies focused on making feasible formulations and drug or bioactive substance delivery systems. In this study curcumin nanoparticles were obtained by two methods and using two solvents, which were characterized by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), atomic force microscopy (AFM), solubility test, and stability tests by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and Zeta potential analyses. DLS and AFM results evidence that particles were obtained in nanometric scale. Zeta potential shows stable nanoparticles in aqueous medium for 24 months. FTIR results point out that nanoparticles obtained have the same chemical features of commercial curcumin. Solubility trials show an increase of over 30 times in nanoparticle solubility, without polymer conjugation. Hence, the processes used to obtain curcumin nanoparticles may allow the use of this substance in clinical trials.