Du, Yuechao. Fabrication and characterization of low crystalline curcumin loaded lipid nanopartilcles. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/T3Z89BSD
DescriptionPreventable chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer account for nearly 70% of the death in the States annually. Research attributes these diseases to oxidation stress induced by free radicals. Recently, it is shown that risk of chronic diseases can be minimized by increasing intake of antioxidant. The increasing public health awareness has lead to intense need for functional food enriched with powerful antioxidants. Recent research reveals that polyphenolic compounds such as quecertin,curcumin possess great anti-oxidation and anti-cancer potential. However, enriching food with these antioxidants has been limited, because these compounds usually have poor solubility and chemically unstable. Solid lipid nanoparticles offer promising approach to deliver these hydrophobic compounds. However, it has been noted that solid lipid nanoparticles have limited loading capacity due to high crystallinity of lipid crystals. In addition, fast polymorphic transition of lipid leads to aggregation and burst release of encapsulated compound. To overcome these limitations, Nanostructured lipid carriers composed of solid lipids and liquid lipids are developed. Until recently, little research has been done on SLN and NLC for food application. In this research, food grade materials are used to fabricate SLN and NLC via ultrasonication. Curcumin, a polyphenolic antioxidant is chosen to be model compound to be encapsulated. The surface morphology of SLN and NLC are studied by dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscope. Structure and molecular interaction of lipid nanoparticles are explored by Raman spectroscope. Differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction technique are applied to provide more insight information about crystallinity and the effect of different components on polymorphic transition of lipid nanoparticles. Research results show curcumin is encapsulated in spherical lipid nanoparticles. The encapsulation greatly improves the chemical stability of curcumin under extreme alkaline condition. Curcumin loaded SLN shows structure of curcumin enriched core with lipid shell. The average size of SLN is between 200-500nm. However, aggregation takes place shortly during storage. NLC has lower crystallinity than SLN. Lipid polymorphic transition in NLC is retarded by the addition of methyl stearate, oleic acid. In addition, smaller particles are formed in methyl stearate NLC and oleic acid NLC.