Enhancing the Bioavailability of a Natural Product Curcumin to increase the Therapeutic Efficacy by a Novel Formulation Technology

Curcumin is found in the rhizome of Curcuma longa. It exhibits various biological activities like anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-oxidant and nematocidal activities. Due to its poor solubility there is a need to formulate this curcumin for better bioavailability. Curcumin was extracted by acetone using soxhlet apparatus and evaporated by means of vacuum rotary evaporator. The presence of curcumin was confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry. Nanosuspension was prepared by bottom up method using acetone and water solvent system. Stabilizers were added under optimized conditions in order to achieve suitable quality of nanosuspension. Then it was analyzed using particle size and zeta potential analyzers for acceptable quality. Pharmacokinetic property and bioavailability are important phenomena that determine the suitability of formulation in therapeutic application. Hence, a study was performed for the prepared nanosuspension formulation. There were two groups of animals considered. One for the formulated curcumin another for non-formulated raw curcumin which served as control. Animals were administrated orally once with 250 mg /kg body weight of respective test drugs and blood samples were collected every 30 min till 180 min. Curcumin in the samples were quantified by HPLC. The Area Under the Concentration time curve (AUC) was drawn and evaluated statistically using ‘t’ test for significant improvement in bioavailability of formulation. Results showed that there is a significant (P< 0.05) improvement in bioavailability and specific pharmacokinetic property for the prepared formulation.