Curcumin Encapsulated Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Based Nanofluids for Possible Multifunctional Applications

Curcumin is known for its excellent anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, and anti-microbial activities, which makes it a promising candidate for coating on iron oxide nanoparticles for biomedical applications. Curcumin coated ultra-small superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (USPIONs) of 3 nm size have been synthesized and characterized using various techniques to confirm the effectiveness of direct coating of curcumin on the nanoparticles. The anti-oxidant property of curcumin is found to be retained after coating on the iron oxide nanoparticles. Relaxivity measurements using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique showed values similar to that reported for other established superparamagnetic iron oxide based contrast enhancement agents in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Thus, curcumin coated USPIONs are suitable as contrast enhancement agent in MRI along with the medicinal and fluorescent property of the curcumin shell, indicating the possible multifunctional applications.