2016/11/29 by Jan Frank, Christina Schiborr, Alexa Kocher +6
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Medicine · Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics · #Advancements in Transdermal Drug Delivery #Curcumin's Biomedical Applications #Pharmacological Effects of Medicinal Plants
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s11130-016-0587-9
openalex publication_date 2016/11/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Curcumin, the active constituent of Curcuma longa L. (family Zingiberaceae), has gained increasing interest because of its anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, and anti-rheumatic properties associated with good tolerability and safety up to very high doses of 12 g. Nanoscaled micellar formulations on the base of Tween 80 represent a promising strategy to overcome its low oral bioavailability. We therefore aimed to investigate the uptake and transepithelial transport of native curcumin (CUR) vs. a nanoscaled micellar formulation (Sol-CUR) in a Caco-2 cell model. Sol-CUR afforded a higher flux than CUR (39.23 vs. 4.98 μg min −1 cm −2 , respectively). This resulted in a higher P app value of 2.11 × 10 −6 cm/s for Sol-CUR compared to a P app value of 0.56 × 10 −6 cm/s for CUR. Accordingly a nearly 9.5 fold higher amount of curcumin was detected on the basolateral side at the end of the transport experiments after 180 min with Sol-CUR compared to CUR. The determined 3.8-fold improvement in the permeability of curcumin is in agreement with an up to 185-fold increase in the AUC of curcumin observed in humans following the oral administration of the nanoscaled micellar formulation compared to native curcumin. The present study demonstrates that the enhanced oral bioavailability of micellar curcumin formulations is likely a result of enhanced absorption into and increased transport through small intestinal epithelial cells.