In this paper, nutriosomes (phospholipid vesicles associated with Nutriose® FM06) were modified to obtain new systems aimed at enhancing the efficacy of curcumin in counteracting malaria infection upon oral administration. Eudragit® L100, a pH-sensitive co-polymer, was added to these vesicles, thus obtaining eudragit-nutriosomes, to improve their in vivo performances. Liposomes without eudragit and nutriose were also prepared as a reference. Cryo-TEM images showed the formation of multicompartment vesicles, with mean diameter around 300 nm and highly negative zeta potential. Vesicles were stable in fluids mimicking the gastro-intestinal content due to the high phospholipid concentration and the presence of gastro-resistant eudragit and digestion-resistant nutriose. Eudragit-nutriosomes disclosed promising performances in vitro and in vivo: they maximized the ability of curcumin to counteract oxidative stress in intestinal cells (Caco-2), which presumably reinforced its systemic efficacy. Orally-administered curcumin-loaded eudragit-nutriosomes increased significantly the survival of malaria-infected mice relative to free curcumin-treated controls.
Keywords: Curcumin; Eudragit® L100; Malaria; Nutriose® FM06; Nutriosomes; Oral administration.
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