Alzheimer's disease is a growing concern in the modern world. As the currently available medications are not very promising, there is an increased need for the fabrication of newer drugs. Curcumin is a plant derived compound which has potential activities beneficial for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Anti-amyloid activity and anti-oxidant activity of curcumin is highly beneficial for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. The insolubility of curcumin in water restricts its use to a great extend, which can be overcome by the synthesis of curcumin nanoparticles. In our work, we have successfully synthesized water-soluble PLGA coated- curcumin nanoparticles and characterized it using different techniques. As drug targeting to diseases of cerebral origin are difficult due to the stringency of blood-brain barrier, we have coupled the nanoparticle with Tet-1 peptide, which has the affinity to neurons and possess retrograde transportation properties. Our results suggest that curcumin encapsulated-PLGA nanoparticles are able to destroy amyloid aggregates, exhibit anti-oxidative property and are non-cytotoxic. The encapsulation of the curcumin in PLGA does not destroy its inherent properties and so, the PLGA-curcumin nanoparticles can be used as a drug with multiple functions in treating Alzheimer's disease proving it to be a potential therapeutic tool against this dreaded disease.

Nanomedicine utilizes engineered nanodevices and nanostructures for monitoring, repair, construction and control of human biological systems at the molecular level. In this study, we investigated the feasibility and potential of zein nanofiber as a delivery vehicle for curcumin in biomedical applications. By optimizing the electrospinning parameters, ultrafine zein fluorescence nanofibers containing curcumin were developed with interconnected fibrous networks. We found that these nanofibers show an increase in fluorescence due to the incorporation of curcumin. The morphology and material properties of the resulting multifunctional nanofiber including the surface area were examined by a field emission-scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and confocal microscopy. The surface area and pore size were characterized by N(2) adsorption-desorption isotherm. SEM and fluorescence images showed that the uniform fibers with smooth surface had an average diameter of about 310 nm. An in vitro degradation study showed significant morphological changes. The in vitro evaluations suggested that the curcumin incorporated zein nanofibers showed sustained release of curcumin and maintained its free radical scavenging ability. It provides an attractive structure for the attachment and growth of fibroblast as cell culture surfaces. The results demonstrate that the curcumin loaded zein nanofiber could be a good candidate for soft tissue engineering scaffolds and has the potential for further applications in drug delivery system.

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