Digestion stability of curcumin-loaded nanostructured lipid carrier

Curcumin is known as a functional substance with various effects such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer. However, it is not easily utilized due to low water solubility and bioavailability. Therefore, this study encapsulated into a nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) with MCT oil of coconut to improve the solubility of insoluble curcumin. The physicochemical properties and stability of curcumin NLCs were observed, and the in vitro gastrointestinal stability of curcumin NLCs was also studied. The produced curcumin NLCs had a hydrodynamic diameter of 126.9 nm, zeta potential of -25.9 mV, PDI of 0.246, and encapsulation efficiency of 94.5%. TGA and DSC analysis were performed to confirm the thermal properties (pyrolysis temperature (?), weight loss (%), melting temperature (?), and crystallinity, etc.) of the components constituting the curcumin NLCs. Through this, it was confirmed that curcumin was completely entrapped in the NLC structure. In the digestive imitation system, NLCs released approximately 31% of curcumin in the imitation saliva step, and curcumin release gradually increased. This study showed that NLCs were an effective carrier to apply in various fields such as the functional food industry, because they increased the water solubility of curcumin and could also improve bioavailability and curcumin storage stability.