Implications of the surface charge of lipid nanoparticles curcumin carriers in giant unilamellar vesicles used as membrane models

• Grant number: 24/07777-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2024
• End date: August 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics
• Principal Investigator: Wallance Moreira Pazin
• Grantee: Letícia Aparecida Fernandes
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências (FC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Bauru. Bauru , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/22214-6 - Towards a convergence of technologies: from sensing and biosensing to information visualization and machine learning for data analysis in clinical diagnosis, AP.TEM

Abstract

Bioactive natural compounds are known for their therapeutic potential, however, there is a major limitation in the clinical use of most of these compounds due to the low efficiency of absorption and bioavailability when administered orally or topically in vivo, as is the case of curcumin, a derivative compound from Curcuma longa, popularly known as turmeric. It is known that there is a high efficiency in antitumor activities carried out in in vitro assays using this molecule, however, due to its lipophilicity, oral administration or topical use is compromised, and there is a low or insignificant in vivo activity in tissues. tumors. In this context, the project aims to analyze strategies for increasing the efficiency of the therapeutic action of curcumin encapsulated in nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) stabilized by positively charged surfactants, evaluating whether different balances in the surface charge of NLCs, in the absence and presence of curcumin, affects the morphology of giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs). The project will be developed using biophysical techniques based on spectroscopy and optical and electron microscopy, which will be used to characterize lipid nanostructures and analyze the interaction and effects of curcumin carried in lipid nanoparticles on the structural and dynamic properties of cell membrane models.