Table 1.

In vivo studies involving a carrier and targeting agent for the delivery of curcumin for the treatment of AD.

Carrier	Amount of Curcumin Nanoparticles	Particle Size (nm)	Carrier and Conjugation Details	Animals Used	Main Results
Metal-based	200 mg/kg (for 30 days)	N/A	Magnesium oxide nanoparticles	Albino rats (oral delivery)	Declined AChE levels [99]
	20 mg/kg (unknown duration)	N/A	Gold nanoparticles functionalized puerarin	Sprague Dawley lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation (intravenous injection)	Anti-inflammatory effects [145]
Lipid-based	2.5 mg/kg (for 10 days)	200	Lipid-core nanocapsules	(male adult Wistar rats) Aβ(1-42)-infused (intraperitoneal administration)	Improved animal memory Anti-inflammatory effects [66]
	4 mg/kg (for 7 days)	N/A	Solid Lipid Nanoparticles	Sprague−Dawley rats (parenteral administration)	Improved animal memory [151]
	10 mg/kg (for 7 days)	28.8	Co-crystal Micelles	Female Sprague-Dawley rats (intranasal delivery)	4.5- and 6-fold enhancement in relative bioavailability of curcumin [60]
	10 mg/kg (applied for 3 weeks)	90.5	Nanostructured lipid carrier and Polysorbate 80 coating (targeting: lactoferrin)	Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats (intravenous injection)	Improved bioavailability of curcumin Aβ plaques decreased [152]
	20 mg/kg (applied for 3 weeks)	75–163	Nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) (targeting: lactoferrin)	Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats (injection via caudal veins)	Aβ plaques decreased [153]
	25 mg/kg (applied once)	139–514	Solid Lipid Nanoparticles (targeting: N-trimethyl Chitosan)	male Balb/c mice (oral administration)	23% higher bioavailability than curcumin [154]
	50 mg/kg (applied once)	N/A	Solid lipid nanoparticles	Wistar rats (intravenous injection)	Better bioavailability [58]
	10 mg/kg (for 15 days)	N/A	Lipid core nanocapsules	Female Swiss Albino Mice (intracerebroventricular injection)	Anti-inflammatory effects [85]
	80 mg/kg (applied once)	129	Nanostructured lipid carriers	Sprague-Dawley rats (oral administration)	Better bioavailability [75]
	83 mg/kg (every other day for 2 months)	N/A	Solid lipid nanoparticles	5xFAD mouse (intraperitoneally)	Improved animal memory (escape latency: 10 s) [40]
	N/A	207	Nanoliposomes	APPxPS1 mice stereotactic (intracerebral injection)	Aβ plaques decreased [155]
PLGA-based	0.5–20 mg/kg (for 5 days	200	PLGA	Wistar rats Amyloid induced (stereotaxic injection)	Aβ plaques decreased [24]
	2 mg/kg (every 2 days for 3 weeks)	128	PLGA-cyclic CRTIGPSVC peptide	(APP/PS1dE9) mice (intraperitoneal injection)	Reduced inflammation, improved memory [86]
	15 mg/kg (for 14 days)	63.2	PEG-PLGA (targeting: transferrin and Tet-1 peptide)	BALB/c mice (intravenous injection)	Improved bioavailability Improved animal memory (Escape latency: 30 s) [156]
	1 mg/kg (applied once)	97	PEG–PLGA/PEG–PBLG Nanoparticles (targeting: odorranalectin)	Male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats (intranasal)	Improved bioavability [147]
	2 mg/kg (applied once)	247	Chitosan-Coated Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) Nanoparticles and Hydroxypropyl-β-Cyclodextrin Inclusion Complexes	Male C57BL/6 mice (intranasal)	Better bioavailability [6]
	5 mg/kg (for 10 days)	<120	Red blood cell (RBC) membrane-coated PLGA (targeting: T807 molecules)	Male ICR mice (tail vein injection)	Better bioavailability Improved animal memory (Escape latency: 45 s) Plaques decreased Anti-inflammatory effect [157]
	5 mg/kg (for 10 days)	170	Red blood cell (RBC) membrane-coated PLGA particles (targeting: T807 molecules)	Female ICR mice (tail vein injection)	Improved animal memory Higher bioavailability plaques decreased [158]
	25 mg/kg (for once)	163	PLGA	Male Sprague-Dawley rats (intravenously injection)	Improved organ distribution [59]
	25 mg/kg (for 3 months)	<100	PEG-PLGA (targeting: B6 peptide)	Male APP/PS1 mouse (intraperitoneal injection)	Improved animal memory (Escape latency: 30 s) Higher bioavailability plaques decreased [25]
PEG-based	10 mg/kg (for once)	184	D-α-tocopheryl PEG 1000 succinate and Tween 80	Male Wistar rats (intraperitoneal injection)	Improved organ distribution [159]
	13.6 mg/kg (applied once)	213	PEG 400 based gelling system	Male Wistar rats (Intranasal or intravenously)	Bioavailability of curcumin increased with the carrier [160]
Other polymers	5 mg/kg (applied once)	152	Poly(n-butylcyanoacrylate) nanoparticle	Male Kunming mice (intravenous injection)	Enhanced transport to the brain [161]
	25 mg/kg (4 weeks)	N/A	N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAM), vinylpyrrolidone (VP), and acrylic acid (AA)	Athymic mice (intraperitoneal route)	Higher bioavailability of curcumin anti-oxidant activity increased [68]