Solanki, Kavitakumari. Incorporation of curcumin in lipid based delivery systems and assessment of its bioaccessibility. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3WD3Z92
DescriptionCurcumin, the major curcuminoid compound from turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a well-studied nutraceutical with many health promoting biological properties. The benefits of curcumin greatly dependon its solubilization (bioaccessibility) and subsequent absorption through cell lining so that it can reach systemic/general circulation. Unfortunately, curcumin has low water solubility and undergoes rapid metabolism on oral delivery.
Lipids have shown to affect the absorption of poorly soluble nutraceuticals such as curcumin by enhancing solubilization in the intestinal milieu through alterations to the composition and character of the colloidal environment –e.g. vesicles, mixed micelles and micelles when delivered orally. Thus, the purpose ofthis study was to formulate threelipid-based delivery systems with curcuminoids –gel like emulsions, nanoemulsions andorganogels, and investigate their impact on in vitro solubilization or bioaccessibility.
Curcumin was dissolved in MC T oil with the help of Span 20 to be used as the lipid phase. Gel-like emulsions, nanoemulsions andorganogelswere then formulated using the curcumin-MCT oil lipid phase using different types of sugar esters as organogelators and emulsifiers. The organogels and gel-like emulsions are viscoelastic in naturewith a solid dominant behaviorwhich was supported by the rheological data. Optical and fluorescence microscopic imaging helped understand the morphology ofcurcumin inthe lipidbased delivery systemsas well as the systems themselves. Digital scanning calorimetry was used to study the phase transitionsthat occurin the systems. The bioaccessibilityof the different lipid based delivery systemswas evaluated using in vitrolipolysis experiments (dynamic pH stat lipid digestion model). Results suggest that lipid based delivery systems have more bioaccessibility when compared to that of unformulated curcuminoids. The bioaccessibility of curcumin increased at least 6.4 folds when it was incorporated in a lipid based delivery system as compared to unformulated curcuminoids.O ut of the three systems tested, gel-like emulsions had the highest stability and thus can be good candidate for incorporation and delivery of curcumin.