Curcumin loaded chitin nanogels for skin cancer treatment via the transdermal route

Abstract

In this study, curcumin loaded chitin nanogels (CCNGs) were developed using biocompatible and biodegradable chitin with an anticancer curcumin drug. Chitin, as well as curcumin, is insoluble in water. However, the developed CCNGs form a very good and stable dispersion in water. The CCNGs were analyzed by DLS, SEM and FTIR and showed spherical particles in a size range of 70-80 nm. The CCNGs showed higher release at acidic pH compared to neutral pH. The cytotoxicity of the nanogels were analyzed on human dermal fibroblast cells (HDF) and A375 (human melanoma) cell lines and the results show that CCNGs have specific toxicity on melanoma in a concentration range of 0.1-1.0 mg mL(-1), but less toxicity towards HDF cells. The confocal analysis confirmed the uptake of CCNGs by A375. The apoptotic effect of CCNGs was analyzed by a flow-cytometric assay and the results indicate that CCNGs at the higher concentration of the cytotoxic range showed comparable apoptosis as the control curcumin, in which there was negligible apoptosis induced by the control chitin nanogels. The CCNGs showed a 4-fold increase in steady state transdermal flux of curcumin as compared to that of control curcumin solution. The histopathology studies of the porcine skin samples treated with the prepared materials showed loosening of the horny layer of the epidermis, facilitating penetration with no observed signs of inflammation. These results suggest that the formulated CCNGs offer specific advantage for the treatment of melanoma, the most common and serious type of skin cancer, by effective transdermal penetration.

Gum arabic-curcumin conjugate micelles with enhanced loading for curcumin delivery to hepatocarcinoma cells

“…Nanogels, liposomes and nanoparticles are among the commonly used nano formulations (Gou et al, 2011;Ma, Haddadi, Molavi, Lavasanifar, Lai & Samuel, 2008;Mangalathillam, Rejinold, Nair, Lakshmanan, Nair & Jayakumar, 2012;Yallapu, Gupta, Jaggi & Chauhan, 2010). Polymer-drug conjugate strategies are also explored to improve the solubility and stability of curcumin.…”

Polyphenols delivery by polymeric materials: challenges in cancer treatment

“…The most of the proposed delivery nano-systems show mechanisms of action mirror that of free curcumin, allowing an effective passive targeting on different cancer cells, including cervical (Das et al, 2010), oral (Chang et al, 2013a), prostate (Mukerjee & Vishwanatha, 2009;Sanoj Rejinold et al, 2011), breast (Sanoj Rejinold et al, 2011 cancers, osteosarcoma (Peng et al, 2014), melanoma (Mangalathillam et al, 2012), and medulloblastoma (Altunbas et al, 2011) by controlling the CUR release over time. Furthermore, in vivo studies proved that nanoparticles prepared by free radical polymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm), N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone (VP), and poly(ethylene glycol) acrylate (PEG-mA), proposed for the treatment of pancreatic cancer, show negligible toxicity in mouse model (Bisht et al, 2007), while the emulsion polymerization of butyl-cyanoacrylate in the presence of CT allows the obtainment of a CUR delivery vehicles suitable for the treatment of hepatic cancer with favorable pharmacokinetic profiles (Duan et al, 2010).…”

Design, characterization, and biological evaluation of curcumin-loaded surfactant-based systems for topical drug delivery

“…[26][27][28] Although it exhibits favorable biological activities on the skin, some properties of curcumin limit its potential as a therapeutic agent, such as poor water solubility and low bioavailability, 29 resulting in limited skin penetration 30 and poor transport through the stratum corneum. 31 Bioadhesion includes adhesion to the skin, and it can be described as a formation of a mechanical joint between the surfaces of adherent (skin) and the adhesive dosage forms. Various theories have attempted to explain the bioadhesion process: there is a bonding force as a result of physicochemical interaction between skin dosage forms; viscoelastic properties can interact due to elastic-viscous behavior of these materials; or the diffusion or interpenetration can explain these adhesion processes because the molecules of dosage forms interact with the skin surface at the molecular level.…”