Development of a Chitosan-Poloxamer 407 Copolymer as a Curcumin Carrier System
摘要
Chitosan is a versatile biopolymer that has multiple biomedical applications due to its properties of biocompatibility, biodegradability and antimicrobial activity. However, one of its limitations is that its high polarity makes it difficult to load liposoluble active ingredients such as curcumin, a phenolic compound commonly used for its anticancer applications thanks to its antioxidant properties. Therefore, in this work we seek the incorporation of curcumin into poloxamer micelles and subsequently graft chitosan to achieve a synergy between the properties of both compounds. First, the graft is obtained through several steps such as poloxamer activation, formation of the imine group and reduction to obtain the copolymer, then the characterization is carried out by FTIR-ATR, Raman spectroscopy, the encapsulation efficiency of curcumin is also evaluated, achieving a higher percentage of charge in the copolymer with respect to chitosan and the in vitro biocompatibility is also evaluated by hemolysis and cytotoxicity tests, presenting better biocompatibility properties when adding curcumin to the copolymer, so this copolymer based on chitosan and poloxamer 407 can be considered as a promising candidate for its application as a release system for liposoluble active ingredients.