Chitosan - Shea butter solid nanoparticles assemblies for the preparation of a novel nanoparticles in microparticles system containing curcumin

In this study, a novel mull-scale drug encapsulation system, curcumin-Solid Lipid Nanoparticles (SLNs) loaded chitosan microparticles, has been formulated by combining biopolymer- and lipid-based drug delivery systems. Curcumin was loaded into phospholipids / Tween 80 stabilized shea butter SLNs (C SLNs) using high shear homogenization - ultrasonication technique. Over than 99% of curcumin was entrapped into SLNs. In order to protect and to improve their stability, C SLNs were encapsulated within chitosan microparticles (CS C SLNs) by ionotropic gelation using sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP) as a crosslinking agent. The final microparticles presented a thin size distribution centered on 21.6 +/- 1.6 mu m and were stable upon time in water. Differential scanning calorimetry and X-Ray diffraction revealed that the SLNs lipid structure was not affected by either curcumin or chitosan. These preliminary results showed that CS-SLNs microparticles can be a promising encapsulation system for hydrophobic compounds.