Abstract

NANO CURCUMIN A NOVEL HERBAL DRUG ENHANCED APOPTOSIS AND INHIBIT EHRLICH ASCITES TUMOR CELLS IN VIVO

Suman Nagpal*, Meeta Gera, Ramesh Kumar and V. K. Jain

ABSTRACT

Cancer is a hyperproliferative disorder that is usually treated by chemotherapeutic agents which are toxic, not only to tumor cells, but also to normal cells leading to severe side effects. In addition, these agents are very expensive and beyond the reach of many patients. Curcumin, a yellow coloured poly-phenol, is the main curcuminoid of the Indian spice turmeric (Curcuma longa). It is known for its non-toxicity, affordability and effectiveness in treating cancer cells. The only disadvantage of free curcumin is its low aqueous solubility and poor bioavailability which set major limitations for its therapeutic use. To overcome this, we in our lab for the first time prepared curcumin nanoparticles by wet-milling technique and characterized using a suite of characterization techniques. Nanocurcumin antitumor and cytotoxic properties were also evaluated in Ehrlich ascites tumor cell (EAT Cell)-bearing mice. The EAT cell-bearing animals were observed for their survival, body weight variations and also the tumors grown at the site of injection were evaluated for histopathological changes. The present study revealed that only 0.75mg (nanocurcumin drug)/30gm mice weight is sufficient to reduce the tumor volume upto 33% which shows the therapeutic efficiency of natural curcumin significantly enhanced by converting it into nano sized particle.

Keywords: Nanocurcumin, wet milling, bioavailability, Ehrlich ascites tumor cell (EAT Cell), anti cancerous.