Development of Enteromorpha prolifera polysaccharide-based nanoparticles for delivery of curcumin to cancer cells.

Polyelectrolyte complex nanoparticles were fabricated via electrostatic complexation between Enteromorpha prolifera polysaccharide (EP) and chitosan (CS). The monodisperse EP/CS NPs with negatively charge were prepared at pH4.0 and mixing ratio of 3.0:1.0. Curcumin loaded nanoparticles (CUR-NPs) showed spherical morphology with negatively charge of -16.27±0.97mV and average diameter range of 230 to 330nm. The results of spectroscopic analysis, XRD and DSC confirmed that there were hydrogen-bonding interaction and hydrophobic interaction between curcumin and EP/CS NPs. The CUR-NPs improved storage, thermal and photo stability of curcumin and exhibited sustained release of curcumin in vitro. Moreover, the CUR-NPs showed higher cellular uptake than free CUR with incubation for 3h by CLSM visualization and fluorescence quantitative assay. Furthermore, MTT assay results demonstrated that the CUR-NPs possessed good anticancer activity against B16F10 cells. Therefore, the EP-based nanoparticles are promising candidates for carriers in controllable hydrophobic anti-tumor drug delivery.