title: Encapsulation of curcumin in alginate-chitosan-pluronic composite nanoparticles for delivery to cancer cells.
abstract: We report a nanoformulation of curcumin with a tripolymeric composite for delivery to cancer cells. The composite nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared by using three biocompatible polymers-alginate (ALG), chitosan (CS), and pluronic-by ionotropic pre-gelation followed by polycationic cross-linking. Pluronic F127 was used to enhance the solubility of curcumin in the ALG-CS NPs. Atomic force and scanning electron microscopic analysis showed that the particles were nearly spherical in shape with an average size of 100 +/- 20 nm. Fourier transform-infrared analysis revealed potential interactions among the constituents in the composite NPs. Encapsulation efficiency (%) of curcumin in composite NPs showed considerable increase over ALG-CS NPs without pluronic. The in vitro drug release profile along with release kinetics and mechanism from the composite NPs were studied under simulated physiological conditions for different incubation periods. A cytotoxicity assay showed that composite NPs at a concentration of 500 microg/mL were nontoxic to HeLa cells. Cellular internalization of curcumin-loaded composite NPs was confirmed from green fluorescence inside the HeLa cells. The half-maximal inhibitory concentrations for free curcumin and encapsulated curcumin were found to be 13.28 and 14.34 muM, respectively.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  A nanoformulation of curcumin with a tri-component polymeric composite for delivery to cancer cells is reported in this paper. Cellular internalization of curcumin loaded composite nanoparticles was confirmed from green fluorescence inside the HeLa cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam, India.
authors.forename: Ratul Kumar
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: Naresh
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kasoju
authors.forename: Utpal
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bora
mesh_terms: D000464:Alginates / Q000737:chemistry*; D016923:Cell Death / Q000187:drug effects; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D048271:Chitosan / Q000737:chemistry*; D003474:Curcumin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D020723:Glucuronic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006603:Hexuronic Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D053761:Nanocomposites / Q000737:chemistry; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D010316:Particle Size; D020442:Poloxamer / Q000737:chemistry*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
chemical_list: D000464:Alginates; D006603:Hexuronic Acids; D020442:Poloxamer; D020723:Glucuronic Acid; D048271:Chitosan; D003474:Curcumin