Enhanced photocytotoxicity of curcumin delivered by solid lipid nanoparticles

Shan Jiang,1 Rongrong Zhu,1 Xiaolie He,1 Jiao Wang,1 Mei Wang,1 Yechang Qian,2 Shilong Wang1 1Tenth People’s Hospital, School of Life Science and Technology, Tongji University, 2Department of Respiratory Disease, Baoshan District Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China Abstract: Curcumin (Cur) is a promising photosensitizer that could be used in photodynamic therapy. However, its poor solubility and hydrolytic instability limit its clinical use. The aim of the present study was to encapsulate Cur into solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) in order to improve its therapeutic activity. The Cur-loaded SLNs (Cur-SLNs) were prepared using an emulsification and low-temperature solidification method. The functions of Cur and Cur-SLNs were studied on the non-small cell lung cancer A549 cells for photodynamic therapy. The results revealed that Cur-SLNs induced ~2.27-fold toxicity higher than free Cur at a low concentration of 15 µM under light excitation, stocking more cell cycle at G2/M phase. Cur-SLNs could act as an efficient drug delivery system to increase the intracellular concentration of Cur and its accumulation in mitochondria; meanwhile, the hydrolytic stability of free Cur could be improved. Furthermore, Cur-SLNs exposed to 430 nm light could produce more reactive oxygen species to induce the disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential. Western blot analysis revealed that Cur-SLNs increased the expression of caspase-3, caspase-9 proteins and promoted the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2. Overall, the results from these studies demonstrated that the SLNs could enhance the phototoxic effects of Cur. Keywords: photodynamic therapy, curcumin, solid lipid nanoparticles, drug delivery, reactive oxygen specie