Curcumin Nanoformulations with Metal Oxide Nanomaterials for Biomedical Applications

In the past few decades, curcumin, a natural polyphenolic phytochemical, has been studied for treating a wide variety of diseases. It has shown promising results as a potential curative agent for a variety of diseases. However, its inherent limitations, such as poor aqueous solubility, poor absorbability, fast metabolic rate, and quick elimination from the body, have limited its application beyond preclinical studies. A huge number of studies have been made to address the issues of curcumin and to maximally utilize its potentials. Many review articles have tried to assess and summarize different nanocarriers, especially organic nanocarriers, for nanoformulations with curcumin. Nevertheless, few exclusive reviews on the progress in nanoformulation of curcumin with inorganic nanomaterials have been made. In this review, we present an exclusive summary of the progress in nanoformulation of curcumin with metal oxide nanoparticles. The beneficial feature of the metal oxide nanoparticles used in the curcumin nanoformulation, the different approaches followed in formulating curcumin with the metal oxides, and the corresponding results, protective effect of curcumin from different metal oxide caused toxicities, and concluding remarks are presented in the review.