Protein-olive oil-in-water nanoemulsions as encapsulation materials for curcumin acting as anticancer agent towards MDA-MB-231 cells

Sci Rep. 2021 Apr 27;11(1):9099. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-88482-3.

Abstract

The sustainable cellular delivery of the pleiotropic drug curcumin encounters drawbacks related to its fast autoxidation at the physiological pH, cytotoxicity of delivery vehicles and poor cellular uptake. A biomaterial compatible with curcumin and with the appropriate structure to allow the correct curcumin encapsulation considering its poor solubility in water, while maintaining its stability for a safe release was developed. In this work, the biomaterial developed started by the preparation of an oil-in-water nanoemulsion using with a cytocompatible copolymer (Pluronic F 127) coated with a positively charged protein (gelatin), designed as G-Cur-NE, to mitigate the cytotoxicity issue of curcumin. These G-Cur-NE showed excellent capacity to stabilize curcumin, to increase its bio-accessibility, while allowing to arrest its autoxidation during its successful application as an anticancer agent proved by the disintegration of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells as a proof of concept.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / administration & dosage
  • Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / chemistry
  • Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / pharmacology*
  • Breast Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Curcumin / administration & dosage
  • Curcumin / chemistry
  • Curcumin / pharmacology*
  • Drug Carriers / administration & dosage
  • Drug Carriers / chemistry
  • Drug Delivery Systems
  • Drug Stability
  • Emulsions / administration & dosage
  • Emulsions / chemistry*
  • Female
  • Fibroblasts
  • Gelatin / chemistry
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Nanostructures / administration & dosage
  • Nanostructures / chemistry*
  • Olive Oil / chemistry
  • Poloxamer / chemistry
  • Water / chemistry

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic
  • Drug Carriers
  • Emulsions
  • Olive Oil
  • Water
  • Poloxamer
  • Gelatin
  • Curcumin