Arcabouços quitosana/curcumina como sistema de liberação controlada para tratamento de câncer de mama.

Abstract

Curcumin is a natural drug that has medicinal properties, among which are the anticancer property, thus, in this research, curcumin has been studied associated with chitosan that is an effective carrier for the preparation of formulations of drug delivery. Therefore the aim of this study was to develop scaffolds of chitosan/curcumin, by the ball aggregation method through gelatin solution (5%) with and without crosslinking. The drug was incorporated in chitosan employing the solutions reaction technique and adsorption. The beads were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Optical Microscopy (OM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Thermogravimetry (TG), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Degree of Swelling (DS). And the scaffolds by OM, SEM, porosity by three different methods, mechanical properties by Compressive Strength and DS. The validation of the analytical method and the release of curcumin by UV / VIS were carried out, mathematical models of release kinetics were also applied, followed by cytotoxicity tests with fibroblast cell line (L929) and breast cancer (MCF-7). Morphological analysis of OM and SEM showed the presence of the drug inside the spheres, and in the scaffolds, the adhesion of the spheres from the gelatin. From the FTIR technique it was noticed the probable interaction of chitosan with curcumin. The results of XRD and TG showed that the drug present in the chitosan matrix did not significantly change neither the crystallinity nor the thermal stability of the material, respectively. By DSC,it was found in the chitosan / curcumin sample, the disappearance of the melting peak of curcumin. It was also found that the scaffolds obtained from cross-linked gelatin had lower water absorption in the GI assay, smaller pore size and lower porosity as well as an extended drug release profile. From the compression test it was observed that all systems had similar amounts of adipose tissue compression strength. Analyzing the mathematical models, it was observed that the Korsmeyer-Peppas and Higuchi models were the ones best adapted to most systems, and from the cytotoxicity results with the L929 cell line it was found that the scaffolds did not show toxicity, while the chitosan / curcumin (adsorption)-crosslinked sample showed toxicity profile for the cell line MCF7. Thus, it was found that the chitosan / curcumin (adsorption) - crosslinked scaffolds is promising for the study in treating breast cancer, because it presented structure, pore size and adequate release profile for the treatment, as well as greater toxicity in cancer cells MCF-7.