Exploring Steroidal Surfactants as Potential Drug Carriers for an Anticancer Drug Curcumin: An Insight into the Effect of Surfactants’ Structure on the Photophysical Properties, Stability, and Activity of Curcumin

Despite having tremendous medicinal benefits, the practical applications of curcumin are limited, owing to two major challenges: poor aqueous solubility and lack of bioavailability. In this regard, biosurfactant-based micellar systems have surged recently for the development of novel and more effective formulations because of their biological relevance. This study deals with a comprehensive and comparative investigation on the effect of seven structurally different steroidal surfactants on the photophysical properties of curcumin and also evaluates these steroidal surfactants as possible drug delivery media for curcumin. The photophysical properties of curcumin exhibited a strong dependence on the structure of the steroidal surfactant; the extent of excited-state proton transfer between curcumin and the surfactants depends strongly on the type of the side chain in the surfactants, which mostly dictates the photophysics of curcumin in the presence of these structural variants. The solubility of curcumin and its stability at different pHs and temperatures and in the presence of salt are significantly enhanced in the presence of these surfactants. Furthermore, the curcumin-loaded micelles exhibited improved intracellular uptake and cytotoxicity against MCF-7 cancer cells than pristine curcumin. Among these steroidal surfactants, CHAPS, the zwitterionic derivative of cholic acid, was the most efficient one to offer better solubility and stability to curcumin under all conditions, and the death rate of MCF-7 cells by curcumin was found to be the highest in the presence of CHAPS, indicating the enhanced bioavailability of curcumin. Therefore, CHAPS-based colloids are found to be promising candidates as potential drug carriers for curcumin.