Increasing Cellular Uptake and Permeation of Curcumin Using a Novel Polymer-Surfactant Formulation.

Several therapeutically active molecules are poorly water-soluble, thereby creating a challenge for pharmaceutical scientists to develop an active solution for their oral drug delivery. This study aimed to investigate the potential for novel polymer-surfactant-based formulations (designated A and B) to improve the solubility and permeability of curcumin. A solubility study and characterization studies (FTIR, DSC and XRD) were conducted for the various formulations. The cytotoxicity of formulations and commercial comparators was tested via MTT and LDH assays, and their permeability by in vitro drug transport and cellular drug uptake was established using the Caco-2 cell model. The apparent permeability coefficients (Papp) are considered a good indicator of drug permeation. However, it can be argued that the magnitude of Papp, when used to reflect the permeability of the cells to the drug, can be influenced by the initial drug concentration (C0) in the donor chamber. Therefore, Papp (suspension) and Papp (solution) were calculated based on the different values of C0. It was clear that Papp (solution) can more accurately reflect drug permeation than Papp (suspension). Formulation A, containing Soluplus® and vitamin E TPGs, significantly increased the permeation and cellular uptake of curcumin compared to other samples, which is believed to be related to the increased aqueous solubility of the drug in this formulation.

Putrescine bisamides from Aglaia gigantea.

Phytochemical analysis of the leaves of Aglaia gigantea collected in Vietnam yielded three cinnamoyl putrescine bisamide derivatives, which included the known compound dasyclamide ( 1), as well as two new natural products, gigantamide A ( 2) and grandiamide D ( 3). In this study, the structure of dasyclamide ( 1) was confirmed by X-ray crystallography. The structures of the two new alkaloids, gigantamide A ( 2) and grandiamide D ( 3), were elucidated through extensive 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy and analysis of their mass spectrometric (ESIMS, HRQTOFMS) data. The absolute configuration of grandiamide D ( 3) was determined via Mosher ester derivatization.