In vitro release studies from curcumin-loaded inulin-graft-vitamin E (INVITE) mucoadhesive micelles

In order to investigate the potential use of INVITE micelles for urinary tract infections, we tested the ability of INVITE micelles to entrap and release a hydrophobic model drug such as curcumin, known for its high antioxidant properties and we evaluated the micelles mucoadhesive properties. In particular, micelles from INVITE polymers, at different degrees of substitution in VITE (10, 20 and 40%), have been prepared by the direct dialysis method so obtaining three different micelle systems. The same systems have been further drug loaded with curcumin by using two different methods in order to evaluate the influence of loading methods on drug loading capacity. In vitro drug release studies and mucoadhesive properties in simulated physiological conditions were carried out aimed to verify whether this DDS could be good candidate for the treatment of UTI