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Curcumin Nanoemulsion via Solvent Evaporation and Freeze Drying: Solubility Enhancement and Release Kinetics
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| Author:
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, SMITA SRIVASTAVA, NEELAM YADAV, HARINATH DWIVEDI, RAJIV GUPTA
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| Abstract:
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Background: Curcumin exhibits broad pharmacological activity; however, its clinical utility is severely limited by extremely low aqueous solubility and poor oral bioavailability. This study aimed to develop and comparatively evaluate curcumin-loaded nanoemulsions prepared via solvent evaporation (SE), freeze drying (FD), and a rationally engineered sequential solvent evaporation–freeze drying–freeze dispersion (SE–FD–FD) approach, with emphasis on the influence of processing strategy on solubilization efficiency, physicochemical characteristics, release kinetics, and short-term stability.
Methods: Nanoemulsions were formulated using SE, FD, and SE–FD–FD techniques. Physicochemical characterization included apparent aqueous solubility, percent transmittance, pH, viscosity, refractive index, and drug content uniformity. Droplet size, polydispersity index (PDI), and zeta potential were determined by dynamic light scattering. In vitro drug release was assessed using a validated UV–Visible spectrophotometric method (?_max = 425 nm), and release data were fitted to kinetic models. Stability studies were conducted for 30 days under refrigerated (4 °C), intermediate (25 °C/60% RH), and accelerated (40 °C/75% RH) conditions following ICH guidelines.
Results: The optimized SE–FD–FD nanoemulsion enhanced curcumin solubility from 0.006 µg/mL to 12.3 µg/mL (~2050-fold). It exhibited a mean droplet size of 156.0 ± 4.0 nm, narrow size distribution (PDI 0.28 ± 0.01), and a moderately negative zeta potential (-18.7 ± 0.7 mV). Rapid drug release was observed, with ~89% released within 30 min and ~99% within 120 min, following Higuchi diffusion-controlled kinetics (R² = 0.8249).
Conclusion: The SE–FD–FD nanoemulsion markedly improves curcumin solubility, enables rapid diffusion-driven release, and demonstrates acceptable short-term stability, supporting its potential for oral delivery of poorly water-soluble drugs.
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| Keyword:
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Curcumin, nanoemulsion; solubility enhancement, freeze drying; solvent evaporation, release kinetics.
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| EOI:
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| DOI:
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https://doi.org/10.31838/ijpr/2026.18.01.003
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| Download:
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Request For Article
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