An assessment of curcumin, curcumin spanlastics nanoparticles, and curcumin nanocrystals as possible drug delivery systems with antimicrobial, antioxidant, and antitumor activities

Abstract Background Curcumin is one such polyphenol that has low bioavailability as well as solubility. Therefore, the present study has analyzed, investigated, and estimated the antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anticancer properties of spanlastics nanoparticles/curcumin nanocrystals on the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line. Methods Successful formulation of the nanocarrier has been authenticated through numerous techniques such as FTIR, TEM, SEM, particle size, zeta potential, physical stability, and dissolution study. DPPH and ABTS were used to demonstrate antioxidant activity. The antimicrobial action of the tested compounds was evaluated against different microbial strains using the disk diffusion method on agar. The anticancer activity of these compounds was estimated by assessing cell viability using the MTT assay and apoptotic induction via Caspase 3 activity measurement. The protein content for the markers MDA, NF-ҡB, Cyclin D1, VEGF, PI3K, AKT, mTOR, BAX, P53, and Bcl-2 was measured using the ELISA technique. Results The results demonstrate that curcumin spanlastics exert higher antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anticancer activity than curcumin alone, curcumin nanocrystals, and spanlastics-free. Additionally, the content of MDA, NF-ҡB, Cyclin D1, VEGF, PI3K, AKT, mTOR, and Bcl-2 decreased, and BAX and P53 content increased with all the compounds tested, but especially with curcumin spanlastics. Also, curcumin spanlastics showed higher Caspase 3 activity. Conclusion Curcumin spanlastics outperformed curcumin nanocrystals and curcumin alone in terms of antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anticancer properties. Furthermore, we demonstrated that highly soluble curcumin spanlastics showed increased activity in comparison to the weakly soluble form of curcumin alone. Graphical Abstract