Fabrication and Assessment of Novel Nano-Drug Delivery System Prepared by Conjugation of Dendrimer– Curcumin and Study of its Effect on Cancerous and Normal Cells

Antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and anti-microbial activities are evidences for the invaluable benefit of this herbal extract in human health and therapy. The anticancer effect of curcumin is due to the targeting of a wide range of cellular and molecular pathways involved in cancer progression. However, the limited solubility, low bioavailability and rapid metabolism of curcumin have a serious negative impact on its therapeutic application. In this research, a nano-carrier with appropriate delivery features, prepared through the conjugation of curcumin to the surface of a polyamidoamine dendrimer at generation 4 (PAMAM). The structure of the synthesized dendrimeric curcumin was confirmed by FT-IR and 1H-NMR methods. The particles size and zeta potential were measured by Zetasizer. The loading rate of curcumin molecules on nano-carrier investigated and the cell viability, intracellular reactive oxygen species and induction of apoptosis were evaluated using MTT assay and flow cytometry technique in the follows. The results of this study showed that the prepared dendrimeric curcumin had a hydrodynamic diameter of about 100 nm. The results show that the rate of curcumin loading on this nanostructure system was about four curcumin molecules per each dendrimer. Cell experiments indicated that the toxicity, cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), and apoptosis caused by dendrimeric nano-carrier were higher than free curcumin. Better performance of dendrimer-Nano-carrier was been through the improvement of physicochemical properties and increased curcumin solubility. Overall, it seems that the prepared dendrimeric curcumin is able to significantly improve the delivery of hydrophobic drugs on cancerous cells.