Quitosana/curcumina: membranas de liberação controlada para tratamento de melanoma.

Abstract

The cancer is growing in public health statistics, and the melanoma is one of the most lethal types. Research has focused on substances that are less toxic and can be released in a controlled way through the developoment of pharmaceutical systems. To develop pharmaceutical systems are used polymer materials, which will be responsible for the drug release control in situ. Chitosan has been studied for having properties such as antimicrobial, analgesic, may be chemically modified, easy and inexpensive. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate chitosan membranes for curcumin controlled release systems for treating melanoma. Samples were prepared by solvent casting, using a solution of acetic acid (1% v/v) to obtain a chitosan solution at 2% (w/v). The membranes of chitosan/curcumin was obtained from the dissolution of curcumin in ethanol (1.2 mg / ml) pouring the solution of chitosan, chitosan membranes with and without curcumin were characterized by FTIR, XRD, SEM, TG, DSC, SD, enzymatic degradation, cytotoxicity (MCF-7), and also performed as the development and validation of the analytical method, and determination of curcumin in membrane developed. From the characterizations became evident that the processing method used in obtaining the chitosan membrane/curcumin is appropriate, considering there was no degradation of curcumin. The membranes of chitosan/curcumin showed lower swelling ratio and degradation, and increased stability as compared to the chitosan membranes. For the cytotoxicity assay the membranes of chitosan/curcumin showed potential for the treatment of cancer. The developed analytical method is accordint to the ANVISA resolution No. RE 899/2003. Therefore, the method was suitable for identification and quantification of curcumin in chitosan/curcumin membranes. Based on these results, the system developed has potential for applications in controlled release of drugs.