Original Articles
Sima Singh and Uma Ranjan Lal*
Abstract
The unique pharmacological and therapeutic applications of targeted drug delivery based research have gained its popularity day by day. Targeted therapy delivers the drug at pathological site, increases the bioavailability and enhances therapeutic effect. Curcumin is a natural polyphenol molecule derived from the Curcuma longa used for the treatment of various diseases. It has poor bioavailability and suboptimal pharmacokinetics. To improve its applicability in the colonic diseases, we encapsulated curcumin by multiparticulate coating with inner guar gum and outer Eudragit FS30D. Curcumin loaded multiparticulate based formulations were prepared and characterized for particle morphology, particle size, drug encapsulation, equilibrium swelling studies, in-vitro drug release, stability study and in-vivo histopathological study for the treatment of ulcerative colitis. Our result showed that particles were of spherical shape with an average size range of 500 μm with 72.5% encapsulation efficiency. The drug released was found to be 92.25% in rat caecal medium. The in-vitro release study demonstrates that encapsulation of curcumin by multiparticulate system was successful in manipulation of human gastrointestinal tract physiology. Results of the histopathological study, clearly proves that encapsulation of curcumin was found to be the best therapeutic option for the treatment of ulcerative colitis.