Prospect of Gum Arabic-Cocoliposome Matrix to Encapsulate Curcumin for Oral Administration

Curcumin is an antioxidant that can effectively eliminate free radicals. However, as its oral bioavailability is low, an effective delivery method is required. Phospholipid-based liposomes can encapsulate lipophilic drugs, such as curcumin, while liposome, cholesterol, and gum Arabic (GA) can enhance the internal and external stability of drug membranes. This present study used concentrations of cholesterol (C_chol) and GA (C_GA), ranging from 0 to 10, 20, 30, and 40% as well as 0 to 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, and 40%, respectively, to encapsulate curcumin in a GA-cocoliposome (CCL/GA) matrix and test its efficacy in simulated intestinal fluid (SIF) and simulated gastric fluid (SGF). The absence of new characteristic peaks in the Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra results indicate the presence of non-covalent interactions in the CCL/GA encapsulation. Furthermore, increasing the C_chol decreased the encapsulation efficiency (EE), loading capacity (LC), and antioxidant activity (IR) of the CCL/GA encapsulation but increased its release rate (RR). Conversely, increasing C_GA increased its EE and IR but decreased its LC and RR. The two conditions applied confirmed this. Liposomal curcumin had the highest IR in SIF (84.081%) and the highest RR in SGF (0.657 ppm/day). Furthermore, liposomes loaded with 10% C_chol and 20% C_GA performed best in SIF, while those loaded with 10% C_chol and 30% C_GA performed best in SGF. Lastly, the CCL/GA performed better in SIF than SGF.