Pomegranate Seed Oil Exerts Synergistic Effects with trans-Resveratrol in a Self-nanoemulsifying Drug Delivery System

Pomegranate seed oil (PSO) has diverse bioactivities. It was hyphothesized that if PSO were employed to construct a trans-resveratrol-loaded self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system (RES SNEDDS-PSO), not only could PSO serve as an oil phase but also exert synergistic effects with resveratrol to yield better therapeutic outcomes. In this study, we prepared RES SNEDDS-PSO for the first time to validate that hypothesis. The anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities of RES SNEDDS-PSO were compared with another SNEDDS composed of oil phase isopropyl palmitate (RES SNEDDS-IP). The results showed that upon exposure to a 10-fold amount of water, RES SNEDDS-PSO was converted into nanoemulsions with a mean size of 44 nm. Nanoemulsions enhanced the water solubility of resveratrol by 20-fold, significantly improved resveratrol stability in intestinal fluid, and slowed the decomposition of resveratrol in water by 1-fold. An in vivo anti-infection test showed that the degree of inflammatory swelling in mice given RES SNEDDS-PSO was only 60 and 76% that of the group fed with RES SNEDDS-IP at doses of 10 and 20 mg/kg, respectively. An in vitro anticancer study showed that the inhibitory rate of RES SNEDDS-PSO against MCF-7 breast cancer cells was 2.03- and 1.24-fold that of RES SNEDDS-IP at a concentration of 12.5 and 25 µg/mL, respectively. This study demonstrated that the newly developed SNEDDS may be a prospective formulation in the functional food and clinical fields.