Volume 28, Issue 148, June 2024

Curcumin loaded nanoparticles: Breaking barriers to brain delivery

Balsam F Sofi^1,2♦, Reem Darwesh¹, Nihal S Elbialy^1,3

¹Medical Physics Program, Physics Department, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
²Medical Physics, Department of Physics, College of Applied Sciences, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
³Biophysics Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

^♦Corresponding author
Medical Physics Program, Physics Department, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Medical Physics, College of Applied Sciences, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a semipermeable barrier that protects the brain from potential pathogens. Despite its protective nature, BBB prevents the passage of any medication into the brain, except for those with a low molecular weight (below 500 Da) and lipophilic compounds. In this research, we developed PEGylated curcumin loaded mesoporous silica nanoparticles (P/CRM@MSNs) that were fabricated to target the brain by either bypassing or crossing the BBB intranasally (in) and intravenously (iv), respectively. Various techniques were employed to characterize the P/CRM@MSNs. In vivo experiments demonstrated that intranasal administration of P/CRM@MSNs improved cellular uptake and reduced clearance from brain tissues, showing a three-fold increase compared to intravenous administration at one-hour post-injection. Pharmacokinetic analysis revealed a higher AUC_(0-1h) value (324 ± 75 ng. h/ml; P ˂ 0.05) following intranasal administration than intravenous administration (195 ± 55 ng. h/ml). Intranasal administration of P/CRM@MSNs significantly reduced drug clearance from the brain (0.2 ± 0.05 ml/h) compared to intravenous administration (0.4 ± 0.06 ml/h). These findings suggest that P/CRM@MSNs could be a promising nanocarrier system for treating brain disorders.

Keywords: Curcumin, Mesoporous silica nanoparticles, Blood-brain barrier, Intranasal, Intravenous

Medical Science, 2024, 28, e51ms3340

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi.v28i148.e51ms3340

Published: 07 June 2024