STUDY ON THE RELEASE OF CURCUMIN FROM THE MICRO BEAD IN THE SIMULATED JEJUNUM FLUID

Abstract

Curcumin is a natural polyphenol isolated from the rhizomes of some plants of the Zingiberaceae family. Various studies suggest that curcumin is associated with a number of biological activities including anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-oxidative, anti-diabet, and anti-microbial. However, the bioavailability of curcumin is still faced difficulties because of its poor water solubility, low chemical instability and low oral bioavailability, related to its poor adsorption and low metabolism in gastrointestinal tract. In the previous study, the micro curcumin beads S0, S3, S8, S15 were obtained by the ionotropic gelation method. The release of curcumin from micro curcumin beads in gastrointestinal tract was further evaluated in simulated digestive fluids PBS pH = 1.2 and intestinal medium PBS pH = 7.4. In order to complete the evaluation of release of curcumin from micro curcumin beads in gastrointestinal tract, this study was continued to evaluate the release of curcumin from micro curcumin beads in simulated jejunum fluid PBS pH = 6.4. The surfactant TPGS 3 g/L was added to achieve the "sink" condition in the dissolution medium. The result showed that curcumin was released from micro curcumin beads S0, S3, S8, S15 during 420 minutes of release process, and the release following to the Korsmeyer-Peppas model. Therefore, the use of curcumin microcapsules has a potential application in controlling curcumin release in the gastrointestinal tract and targeting curcumin release in the jejunum of the small intestine.