Application of mesoporous calcium silicate nanoparticles as a potential SD carrier to improve the solubility of curcumin

Abstract

Curcumin is a natural polyphenol exhibiting potentials in anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-tumor, and tissue regeneration. Despite its biological significances, the extremely low solubility of curcumin is a serious impediment to its clinical practice. In this study, a curcumin-calcium silicate solid dispersion was prepared via a classical ethanol-based solvent evaporation, in which mesoporous calcium silicate (mesoCS) was applied as dispersion medium aimed to improve water solubility and bioavailability of curcumin. The physicochemical properties of the resulting solid dispersions were characterized by FTIR, XRD, SEM, TEM, DSC, and BET, respectively. In addition, loaded curcumin revealed a curcumin/mesoCS weight ratio depended dissolution improvement and over 60% of curcumin dissolved in the first 5 min for 1/9 weight ratio group. The released curcumin showed a 3410-fold increase of solubility of the original one, accompanied with anti-oxidant activity preservation. These results suggest mesoCS can be a potential solid dispersion carrier for curcumin in oral administration.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Curcumin
• mesoporous calcium silicate
• solid dispersion
• dissolution enhancement

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.82025025), Academician Expert Workstation of Yunnan Province of China (202205AF150025), Full-time Talents Program of Hebei Province of China (2020HBQZYC012), Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province (No.C2021202003) and Key Research and Development Program of Changzhou (Social Development, No. CE20205058).