Nanoform of curcumin: expansion in therapeutic applications

Abstract

Curcumin is a well-known natural compound for therapeutic applications. Despite being a promising candidate, its poor water solubility, physicochemical instability, rapid degradation, poor bioactive absorption, low pharmacokinetics, low penetration and targeting efficacy, alkaline sensitivity, heat and light sensitivity limits its usage. Continuous efforts are being carried out to improve the properties of native curcumin into nanocurcumin preparation with change in structural organisation with improved properties. Several nanoformulations such as nanotube, nanopolymer, nanogel, micelle, liposome, dendrimer, quantum dot based nanocurcumin has been constructed and their potential applications explored. This has led to opening of new avenue in therapeutics domain for combating various diseases such as anti-microbial, anti-cancer, anti-diabetes, neuroprotective effect, immunomodulatory effect etc. Further, nanoform of curcumin is highlighted in reference to reversal of drug resistance and drug sensitivity enhancement. Apart from these, the review also summarizes about some clinical trials conducted using nanocurcumin in various disease domain.