Figure 1.

Physical properties and bioavailability of curcumin nanoparticles. (A) Image of curcumin nanoparticles taken with a transmission electron microscope (JOEL 2100F) showing particles having a size distribution of 59.9–198 nm (average size of 160 nm). (B) Dynamic light scattering of curcumin nanoparticles, showing unimodal size distribution with mean diameter of 213.3 nm and polydispersity index of 0.111. Analysis was performed (scattering angle = 90°, laser wavelength = 632.8 nm) on a 256 channel Photocor-FC (Photocor Inc., USA) operated in the multi-tau mode (logarithmically spaced channels). (C) Images of normal curcumin crystals having a size ranging from 1 to >20 µm, as seen by a scanning electron microscope (EM-LEO 435, Carl Zeiss SMT Inc., NY, USA). (D) Images of curcumin nanoparticles as seen by a scanning electron microscope (EM-LEO 435, Carl Zeiss SMT Inc., NY, USA), showing spherical morphology and average size of 200 nm. (E) In vivo bioavailability of curcumin nanoparticles. 100 mg/kg of natural curcumin or curcumin nanoparticles was suspended in PBS and injected intraperitoneally into mice. Blood was collected from these mice at different time points, plasma was prepared, and curcumin was extracted using the method described in Section “Materials and Methods,” and curcumin was quantitated by GC-MS for determining bioavailability.