Nanogels of acetylated ulvan enhance the solubility of hydrophobic drug curcumin

Curcumin (Cur) is a polyphenol showing various bioactivities including anti-tumour activity. However, poor solubility of Cur in aqueous solution is a major barrier to its bioavailability and clinical efficacy. In this study, hydrophobically modified ulvan was considered to self-assemble to fabricate nanogels. This is a network of hydrophilic segments with hydrophobic microdomains in the nanopores, which keeps Cur from dispersing into the media and raise Cur solubility in water by 20,000 times. A Cur-loaded acetylated ulvan nanogel was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering. This result confirmed that hydrophobically modified ulvan could be used as a self-organizing assembly nanogel to carry and deliver water-insoluble bioactive compounds.