Chitosan‐based delivery systems for curcumin: A review of pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic aspects

Abstract

Effective drug delivery is one of the most important issues associated with the administration of therapeutic agents that have low oral bioavailability. Curcumin is an active ingredient in the turmeric plant, which has low oral bioavailability due to its poor aqueous solubility. One strategy that has been considered for enhancing the aqueous solubility, and, thus, its oral bioavailability, is the use of chitosan as a carrier for curcumin. Chitosan is a biodegradable and biocompatible polymer that is relatively water‐soluble. Therefore, various studies have sought to improve the aqueous solubility of chitosan. The use of different pharmaceutical excipients and formulation strategies has the potential to improve aqueous solubility, formulation processing, and the overall delivery of hydrophobic drugs. This review focuses on various methods utilized for chitosan‐based delivery of curcumin.

Enhancement of curcumin antitumor efficacy and further photothermal ablation of tumor growth by single-walled carbon nanotubes delivery system in vivo

“…The physicochemical characterization of drug in delivery systems influences its stability, cellular uptake and plasma concentration (Aqil et al., 2013), which are all vital for bioaccessibility of drug (Blanco et al., 2013; Zheng et al., 2018). Therefore, researchers have constantly developed different formulations of Cur to circumvent its physicochemical limitations for enhancing bioavailability (Jamwal, 2018; Zheng et al., 2018; Saheb et al., 2019; Wong et al., 2019). Previously, we observed a significant increase of Cur’s stability and solubility in SWCNT-Cur (Li et al., 2014a).…”

“…However, the poor bioavailability, which makes it not to reach the blood concentration required for anticancer efficacy in patients, remains the major barriers in Cur’s clinical application. Therefore, various attempts, including development of better formulations, become one of the main efforts so as to harness the potential of Cur (Jamwal, 2018; Zheng et al., 2018; Saheb et al., 2019; Wong et al., 2019).…”

In‐Silico Tuning of Curcumin Loading on PEG Grafted Chitosan: An Atomistic Simulation

“…[8] Drugs that have low oral bioavailability, need to develop novel drug delivery systems to be more effective. [9] Kim et al have studied the kinetics of the cellular uptake of the curcumin and PEG-curcumin. There is a difference in the uptake of curcumin and curcumin-PEG into the cell.…”

Preparation and Evaluation of Collagen-Based Patches as Curcumin Carriers

“…To enhance the penetration of drugs through the skin but to also allow the loading of lipophilic active agents, nanosized carriers are being used [ 4 ]. Chitosan nanoparticles (CS-NPs) stand out in transdermal formulations [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ]. CS is a naturally derived polymer, well established as a drug carrier owning biocompatibility, low immunogenicity, biodegradability, mucoadhesivity, in situ gelation, permeation enhancement, and inherent antimicrobial activity [ 10 , 11 ].…”