Curcumin has attracted particular attention in recent years due to its great variety of beneficial biological and pharmacological activities. However, its efficacy has been limited due to its low bioavailability, and this limitation can be overcome by novel drug delivery systems. Self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system (SNEDDS) is a novel route to improve oral bioavailability of lipophilic drugs. SNEDDS spontaneously forms fine oil-in-water nanoemulsion by mild agitation. An optimal formula for a SNEDDS comprised ethyl oleate:tween 80:PEG 600 (50:40:10% w/w) with 11.2-nm uniform droplets was developed for curcumin delivery. The SNEDDS was characterized and its loading properties for curcumin were orally evaluated in rat. The results showed a significant increment of 3.95 times in Cmax, and the curcumin bioavailability was enhanced by 194.2%, compared to the curcumin suspension in water. The development of the SNEDDS formulation had a great potential as a possible alternative for curcumin administration.
Keywords: Bioavailability; Curcumin; Drug delivery; Emulsion; Rat.
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