Co-encapsulation of curcumin and boswellic acids in chitosan-coated niosome: an in-vitro digestion study

Abstract

In this study, chitosan-coated niosome (ChN) was utilised for bioavailability enhancement of curcumin (Cn) and boswellic acids (BAs). The bare niosome (BN) was prepared by the heating method and optimised by using the mixture design procedure. Physicochemical stability, as well as the in vitro release, and bioavailability of Cn and BAs in BN and ChN were studied. The optimised BN had a mean diameter of 70.00 ± 0.21 nm and surface charge of −31.00 ± 0.25 mv, which changed to 60.01 ± 0.20 nm and +40.00 ± 0, respectively, in ChN. In-vitro digestion study revealed chitosan layer augmented the bioavailability of Cn and BAs to 79.02 ± 0.13 and 81 ± 0.10, respectively. The chitosan layer obviously improved the physical stability of Cn and BA in the niosome vehicle, by means of vesicle size, zeta potential, and encapsulation efficiency. The ChN was considered to be promising delivery system for increasing the bioavailability of Cn and BAs.

Keywords:

• Chitosan-coated niosome
• curcumin
• boswellic acid
• bioavailability
• mixture design

Disclosure statement

There are no conflicts of interest to declare under the heading.

All authors contributed to the performance of the article. Literature review and experiments and writing were done by Salehi; Scientific and literature advices were performed by Norbakhsh, Yousefpour, and Sahab-Negah; supervision and the critical and final revision were done by Rajabzadeh.

Data availability statement

Data will be made available for reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.