Curcumin derivative loaded albumin nanoparticles: preparation, molecular interaction study and evaluation of physicochemical properties, in-vitro release and cytotoxicity

Albumin nanoparticles have shown great potential in cancer drug delivery. In this study, firstly, fluorescence spectroscopy and molecular docking studies indicated a predominant hydrophobic interaction between 2,6-bis(3,4-methylenedioxybenzylidene)-1-cyclohexanone (BMC) derivative of curcumin and bovine serum albumin (BSA). Then, BMC was loaded in BSA nanoparticles (BSANPs) via adsorption and entrapment approaches based on desolvation technique. The structural changes and loading of BMC in BSANPs were confirmed using UV-Vis, FTIR and TGA analysis. The effect of loading process on physicochemical properties was evaluated by DLS, FESEM and calculating of the drug loading (DL) and entrapment efficiency (EE) percentages. Formulations prepared through entrapment method (BMC@BSANPs-E) showed smaller particle sizes than adsorption (BMC@BSANPs-A). However, mean particle size of NPs were controlled between 159.2±3.45 to 201.7±1.57 nm. Also, acceptable negative values were achieved for zeta potential and formulations showed spherical morphology. Larger DL% were obtained for BMC@BSANPs-A, however, higher EE% were observed for BMC@BSANPs-E. While both formulations showed a sustained release behavior in-vitro with more release in acidic pH than neutral conditions, greater cumulative release percentage was obtained for BMC@BSANPs-A. BMC release in both formulations followed the first order kinetic model and release mechanism was controlled by Fickian diffusion. Finally, cytotoxicity tests on MCF-7 cancer cells showed the improvement of the anti-cancer effect of the formulations in comparison with the free BMC.