Pickering emulsions stabilized nanocellulosic-based nanoparticles for coumarin and curcumin nanoencapsulations: In vitro release, anticancer and antimicrobial activities

Coumarin and curcumin have a wide spectrum of biological and pharmacological activities including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and anticancer but hindered therapeutic applications due to low stability and poor solubility in water. The main objective of the current study was to overcome these drawbacks via improved bioavailability by nanoencapsulated emulsions. Pickering emulsion (PE) via oil-in-water approach were stabilized by aminated nanocellulose (ANC) particles through application of a full factorial optimization design for nanoemulsions containing different composition of oil phase with medium chain triglyceride (MCT) and Tween 80. The fabricated nanoemulsions and PEs with average particle sizes (≤150 nm) were obtained. Influencing factors such as ANC concentration, storage time and pH on the stability of emulsions were examined alongside zeta potentials. Encapsulation efficiency (EE) of coumarin and curcumin were determined as >90%. Release kinetic profiles for encapsulated PEs displayed sustained release with supposed increase bioavailability. Higher release percent were detected for curcumin encapsulated PE in contrast to coumarin. In vitro cytotoxicity evaluation for coumarin and curcumin loaded PEs were further investigated for anticancer and antimicrobial activities using human cell lines (L929 and MCF-7) and different microorganisms (Gram (+), Gram (-) and fungi), respectively. The results clearly demonstrated PE coumarin and curcumin as promising candidates to inhibit microbial growth and to prevent preferential killing of cancer cells compared to normal cells.