Evaluation of curcumin nanoemulsion effect to prevent intestinal damage

Curcumin has gained great prominence for the prevention and treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. However, studies have reported the low bioavailability of orally administered curcumin. This work aimed to evaluate the characteristics, stability and effects of a curcumin-carrying nanoemulsion in preventing intestinal damage induced by indomethacin. Nanoemulsions containing curcumin were prepared by spontaneous emulsification method and it was characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS), zeta potential and the morphology was evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Its stability was tested under different conditions of pH, temperature at 0, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. In animal experimentation, 36 male mice of the Mus musculus lineage (C57BL/6) were used. The intestinal inflammation was evaluated based on macroscopic, histopathological and metagenomic analysis. It was found a stable nanoemulsion with a size of 409.8 nm, polydispersion index (PDI) of 0.132 and zeta potential of -18.8 mV. However, these lost charge in pH2, showing instability in acidic media (p < 0.05). In animal experiments, the nanoemulsion did not significantly improve intestinal inflammation. However, the group treated with curcumin nanoemulsion showed a higher relative abundance of the genus Lactobacillus (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the curcumin nanoemulsion was relevant in the modulation of the intestinal microbiota.