Impact of PLA/PEG ratios on Curcumin solubility and encapsulation efficiency, size and release behavior of Curcumin loaded poly(lactide)-poly(ethylenglycol) polymeric micelles

Curcumin, a natural compound isolated from rhizomes of the herb Curcuma longa, is suggested as a potential therapeutic agent thanks to its multiple biological and pharmaceutical activities including anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, wound healing, anti-microbial and anti-cancer activities. Particularly, Curcumin has demonstrated efficacy as an anticancer agent for various kinds of cancer. However, its low aqueous solubility and bioavailability hamper its clinical application. Therefore, many drug delivery systems have been developed to overcome these limitations. In this study, by using polymeric micelles composed by poly (lactide)-poly (ethylenglycol) (PLA-PEG) copolymers, the aqueous solubility of Curcumin was increased to 0.73 mg.mL -1 compared to 0.11×10 -4 mg.mL -1 of pure Curcumin. In addition, we found that the ratio of PLA/PEG has large impact on Curcumin solubility, Curcumin encapsulation efficiency, size and Curcumin release behavior of polymeric micelles. The increase in Curcumin solubility, Curcumin encapsulation efficacy and particle size but decrease in Curcumin release rate were observed when increasing the PLA/PEG ratio.