A Cost-Effective Nano-Sized Curcumin Delivery System with High Drug Loading Capacity Prepared via Flash Nanoprecipitation

oleh: Zhuo Chen, Zhinan Fu, Li Li, Enguang Ma, Xuhong Guo

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2021-03-01

Deskripsi

Flash nanoprecipitation (FNP) is an efficient technique for encapsulating drugs in particulate carriers assembled by amphiphilic polymers. In this study, a novel nanoparticular system of a model drug curcumin (CUR) based on FNP technique was developed by using cheap and commercially available amphiphilic poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) as stabilizer and natural polymer chitosan (CS) as trapping agent. Using this strategy, high encapsulation efficiency (EE > 95%) and drug loading capacity (DLC > 40%) of CUR were achieved. The resulting CUR-loaded nanoparticles (NPs) showed a long-term stability (at least 2 months) and pH-responsive release behavior. This work offers a new strategy to prepare cost-effective drug-loaded NPs with high drug loading capacity and opens a unique opportunity for industrial scale-up.