See

discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: http://www.researchgate.net/publication/267487928

Bioavailability and bioactivity enhancement of

herbal drugs by Nanotechnology : a review
ARTICLE JANUARY 2012

CITATIONS

READS

556

4 AUTHORS, INCLUDING:
Ankit Mangal

Pankaj Dixit

Smriti College of Pharmaceutical Educatio

IPS Academy

2 PUBLICATIONS 9 CITATIONS

28 PUBLICATIONS 379 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All in-text references underlined in blue are linked to publications on ResearchGate,

letting you access and read them immediately.

SEE PROFILE

Available from: Ankit Mangal

Retrieved on: 25 December 2015

Journal of Current Pharmaceutical Research 2011; 8 (1): 1-7

JCPR 2011;8 (1): 1-7

2010 Medipoeia
Received 05-1-2012
Revised: 06-1-2012
Accepted: 10-1-2012

Bioavailability and bioactivity enhancement of

herbal drugs by Nanotechnology: a review
Sandeep Singh Bhadoriya, Ankit Mangal , Narendra Madoriya, Pankaj
Dixit

ABSTRACT
Sandeep Singh Bhadoriya, Ankit
Mangal
Vikrant Institute of pharmacy, Indore
(M.P),India
Narendra Madoriya
Vikram University, Department of
pharmacy,Ujjain (M.P),India
Pankaj Dixit
IPS academy, C.O.P ,
Indore(M.P),India

Nanotechnology is an advanced scientific technique in the 21stcentury. By analyzing the

relationship between nanotechnology and biological medicine, nanotechnology and bioavailability
and the advances and the existing problems of Bioavailability enhancement, the application of
nanotechnological methods for the mechanism research on bioavailability enhancement of herbal
drugs were discussed. It is indicated that nanotechnology is one of the fastest developmental, the
most potential and the far-reaching high and new technologies in current world, and it greatly
promotes the development of biological medicine and bioavailability enhancement of herbal drugs.
With the application of nanotechnology of nanomization of herbal drugs, it will make the
development of nanoherbal medicine possess high bioavaibility, which consequently will open the
new era of herbal drug discovery. Its pointed out that breakthrough will be achieved from the
research of the nanomization of herbal phytochemicals like-nanocurcumin, nanopiperine,
nanoberberine etc.
Keywords: Nanotechnology, bioavailability, bioactivity, herbal drugs.

1. INTRODUCTION
Bioavailability refers to the extent to and rate at which the active moiety (drug or metabolite)
enters systemic circulation, thereby accessing the site of action. Bioavailability of a drug is largely
determined by the properties of the dosage form (which depend partly on its design and manufacture),
rather than by the drug's physicochemical properties, which determine absorption potential (Merck et
al.,2012 ).

Correspondence author:
Sandeep Singh Bhadoriya
Vikrant Institute of Pharmacy, Indore
Mob no: 08871696701

Email:
Sandeepbhadoriya10@gmail.com

The use of herbs for treating various ailments dates back several centuries. Usually, herbal
medicine has relied on tradition that may or may not be supported by empirical data. The belief that
natural medicines are much safer than synthetic drugs has gained popularity in recent years and led to
tremendous growth of phytopharmaceutical usage. Market driven information on natural products is
widespread and has further fostered their use in daily life. In most countries there is no universal
regulatory system that insures the safety and activity of phytopharmaceuticals. Evidence-based
verification of the efficacy of HMPs (herbal medicinal products, botanicals) is still frequently lacking.
However, in recent years, data on evaluation of the therapeutic and toxic activity of herbal medicinal
products became available. The advances in analytical technology have led to discovery of many new
active constituents and an ever-increasing list of putatively active constituents. Establishing the
pharmacological basis for efficacy of HMPs is a constant challenge. Of particular interest is the question
of bioavailability to assess to what degree and how fast compounds are absorbed after administration of
HMPs. Of further interest is the elucidation of metabolic pathways (yielding potentially new active
compounds), and the assessment of elimination routes and their kinetics. These data become an important
issue to link data from pharmacological assays and clinical effects. Of interest are currently also
interactions of herbal medicinal products with synthetically derived drug products. A better understanding
of the pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of phytopharmaceuticals can also help in designing rational
dosage regimens (Bhattaram et al.,2002 ).

Journal of Current Pharmaceutical Research 2011; 8 (1): 1-7

Recent developments in nanotechnology have witnessed the

rapidly evolving power of this interdisciplinary field with myriad
of applications in medical sciences, in the development of smart
electronic materials, in alternative energy generation, in
environmental restoration and in various allied fields. All of these
advancements require the production of a large variety of
nanoparticles, including both the metallic and non metallic, in
large scales. As the nanorevolution continues to unfold, it is
imperative that the manufacturing processes, for both nanoparticle
production and nanoparticle embedded finished products,
incorporate environmentally sound and non polluting technologies.
Several of the currently used nanoparticle production processes
utilize toxic chemicals either in the form of reducing agents to
reduce various metal salts to their corresponding nanoparticles or
as stabilizing agents to stop nanoparticles from agglomeration (
Kavita et al., 2009 ). Nanotechnology is the use of 0. 1 ~ 100 nm
spatial scale operation
Vertical atoms and molecules, processing of materials, to
create a specific function to high-tech products. It is considered the
"most likely the next 10 years great changes in mankind 10
technology, "one of the present, satisfied introduction of modern
rice technology research and development of traditional Chinese
medicine, proposed a" nanometer Medicine "concept. Nanomedicine is the use of nano-technology manufacturing tablets.
Diameter less than 100 nm of Chinese medicine, the original drug
and its compound preparations (Yang et al., 2000).
A number of new nanotechnology-based Chinese herb
drugs have been developed that have efficient biopharmaceutical
properties and desirable target characteristics. This offers several
alternatives for medical applications. Nanoparticles of Chinese
herb drugs possess many benefits, such as improving component
solubility, enhancement of bioavailability, increasing absorbency
of the organism, reducing medicinal herb doses, and achieving
steady-state therapeutic levels of drugs over an extended period
compared with traditional Chinese herb drug preparations. There
are two basic techniques, bottom up or top down, to prepare
Chinese herb nanoparticles. Furthermore, specific surface
modifications and new design strategies of Chinese herb drug
nanoparticles are created to profit clinical applications (Huang et
al.,2011). This review presents recent advances by nanotechnology
in bioavailability enhancement of herbal drugs.

Figure 2. Cross-section of (a) nanoemulsion and

Figure 1. A fusion of Eastern and Western medicinal systems

integrated with nanotechnology may usher a new era of future
medicine (Ratnesh et al.,2011 ).
APPROACHES OF NANOTECHNOLOGY
In recent year, the nanonization of herbal medicines has
attracted much attention ( Zhinan et al., 2003); some of them are
illustrated in Table 1. Nanoparticles and nanoemulsions (Fig. 2)
are colloidal systems with particles varying in size from 10 nm to
1000 nm
(Ratnam etal., 2006; Allemann et al.,
1993).Nanoparticle systems with mean particle size well above the
100 nm standard have also been reported in literature, including
nanonized curcuminoids (Tiyaboonchai et al., 2007), paclitaxel (
Arica et al., 2006) and praziquantel (Mainardes et al., 2005) which
have a mean particle size of 450, 147.7, and even higher than 200
nm, respectively. In addition, nanoparticles could also be defined
as being submicronic (b1 lm) colloidal systems (Brigger et al.,
2002). The nanospheres have a matrix type structure in which the
active ingredient is dispersed throughout (the particles), whereas
the nanocapsules have a polymeric membrane and an active
ingredient core. Nanonization possesses many advantages, such as
increasing compound solubility, reducing medicinal doses, and
improving the absorbency of herbal medicines compared with the
respective crude drugs preparations ( Ratnesh Kumar et al.,2011).

(b) Biopolymeric nanoparticle

Journal of Current Pharmaceutical Research 2011; 8 (1): 1-7

1. Nanotechnology approaches to enhance the bioavailability of

curcumin
Today curcumin has been widely acknowledged globally
as a "wonder drug of the future" because of its great potential
abilities to prevent and treat a wide spectrum of incurable and
chronic diseases. In addition, it has been proved to be remarkably
safe in animal studies and in phase I clinical trials even at high
doses (up to 12g/day). However, the major problem limiting the
exploitation of its potentially valuable therapeutic effects is its low
bioavailability (Dandekar et al., 2009). In practice, only very low
or undetectable levels of curcumin can be achieved in blood by
oral administration of curcumin. The low bioavailability of
curcumin has been attributed to its very low aqueous solubility,
tendency to degrade in the gastroinenstinal tract in the
physiological environment, high rate of metabolism, and rapid
systemic elimination. The low bioavailability of curcumin has so
far limited its medical use. It has been suggested that a person is
required to consume large doses (about 12-20g/day) of curcumin in
order to achieve its therapeutic effects on the human body
(Dandekar et al., 2009). That means one has to swallow 24 to 40
curcumin capsules of 500mg each. These doses are considered to
be too high, and therefore, not feasible to be incorporated in
clinical trials due to unbearable after-taste to the palate, possibility
of giving rise to nauseatic feeling and perceived toxicity issues.
Therefore, to achieve the maximum response of this potentially
useful chemopreventive agent, a number of approaches such as the
use of adjuvants like piperine, synthetic analogues, chelating of
curcumin with metals, combination with other dietary agents etc.
have been investigated. Nanotechnology-based novel strategies are
being aggressively explored worldwide to enhance curcumin's
bioavailability and reduce perceived toxicity as they offer several
other additional benefits such as improved cellular uptake,
enhanced dissolution rates, excellent blood stability, controlled
release functions, multifunctional design, enhancement in its
pharmacological activities (e.g. antioxidant and antihepatoma
activities) etc. A 2010 article on polymer nanoparticleencapsulated curcumin (Yen et al., 2010 ) has been ranked as one
of the top ten most accessed articles (48029 accesses) for all time
by the Journal of Nanobiotechnology. This clearly demonstrates
the emerging importance of this field (nanotechnology-based drug
delivery of curcumin based systems). In this pioneering work,
researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
and the University of Delhi have jointly developed a polymer
nanoparticle-encapsulated form of curcumin, "nanocurcumin",
which can be readily dispersed in aqueous media. In this process,
they have coated ordinary hydrophobic curcumin particles with
hydrophilic polymer (N-isopropylacrylamide with N-vinyl-2pyrrolidonne and poly(ethylene glycol) monoacryalate)
nanoparticles. This nanocurcumin is soluble in water and can be
readily absorbed into the bloodstream. It has already been tested in
vitro on pancreatic cancer cells and it was shown to have equal or
better effects than free curcumin on the human cancer cells, such
as inhibition of NF-kB and downregulation of IL-6. Nanocurcumin

was also given to mice, and did not show any evidence of
undesirable effects. In addition to polymer-encapsulated curcumin,
other nanobased drug delivery systems being employed for
curcumin include curcumin nanocrystals, curcumin nanoparticles,
nanoemuls nanoliposome-encapsulated curcumin, curcumin-loaded
polymeric micelles, cyclodextrin/curcumin selfassembly, curcumin
nanosuspension, solid-lipid nanoparticles etc.
2. Nanotechnology approaches to enhance the bioavailability of
berberine hydrochloride
Berberine hydrochloride is a conventional component in
Chinese medicine, and is characterized by a diversity of
pharmacological effects. However, due to its hydrophobic
properties, along with poor stability and bioavailability, the
application of berberine hydrochloride was hampered for a long
time. In recent years, the pharmaceutical preparation of berberine
hydrochloride has improved to achieve good prospects for clinical
application, especially for novel nanoparticulate delivery systems.
Moreover, anticancer activity and novel mechanisms have been
explored, the chance of regulating glucose and lipid metabolism in
cancer cells showing more potential than ever. Therefore, it is
expected that appropriate pharmaceutical procedures could be
applied to the enormous potential for anticancer efficacy, to give
some new insights into anticancer drug preparation in Chinese
medicine ( Tan et al., 2011 ).
3. Nanotechnology approaches
bioavailability of colchicine

to

enhance

the

oral

The effect of eugenol on intestinal absorption of

colchicine in an oral administrative nanoemulsion formulation was
also demonstrated in vivo. The colchicine nanoemulsion was
prepared with isopropyl myristate ,eugenol, Tween80, ethanol and
water, and eugenol was used as an oil phase in the formulation ;an
average particle size of this nanoemulsion was 41.2 7.2 nm. The
permeation of colchicine in the nanoemulsion across the intestinal
membrane was significantly different from that of the control
group (0.2 mM colchicine).Finally, co-administration of eugenol
incolchicine nanoemulsion to enhance the colchicine
bioavailability was investigated by an oral administration method.
After oral administration of colchicine (8 mg/kg) in the form of
eitherthe nanoemulsion or in free colchicine solution, the relative
bioavailability of nanoemulsion and eugenolnanoemulsion were
enhanced by about 1.6- and 2.1-fold, respectively, compared with
free colchicine solution. The procedure indicated that the intestinal
absorption of colchicines was enhanced significantly by eugenol in
the tested nanoemulsion (Shen et al., 2011 ).
4. Nanotechnology approaches to enhance the bioavailability of
artemisinin
Evaporative precipitation of nanosuspension (EPN) was
used to fabricate nanoparticles of a poorly water-soluble
antimalarial drug, artemisinin (ART), with the aim of enhancing its
dissolution rate. We investigated the nanoparticle fabrication of
ART via a full factorial experimental design considering the

Journal of Current Pharmaceutical Research 2011; 8 (1): 1-7

effects of drug concentration and solvent to antisolvent ratio on the

physical, morphological and dissolution properties of ART.
Characterization of the original ART powder and EPN prepared
ART nanoparticles was carried out by scanning electron
microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray
diffraction (XRD) and dissolution tester. DSC and XRD studies
suggested that the crystallinity of EPN prepared ART nanoparticles
decreased with increasing drug concentration and ratio of solvent
to antisolvent. The particle diameters of EPN prepared ART
nanoparticles were found to be 100360 nm. The dissolution of
EPN prepared ART nanoparticles markedly increased as compared
to the original ART powder (Kakran et al.,2010 ).
Artemisinin regarded as one of the most promising
anticancer drugs can bind to DNA with a binding constant of 1.04
104 M1. The electrochemical experiments indicated that for
longer incubation time periods, the reduction peak current of
artemisinin on carbon nanotube modified electrode increases.
Therefore, the uptake of drug molecules from a solution into CNTs
will be achieved automatically by adsorption of 88.7% of
artemisinin onto carbon nanotubes surface without alteration in
drug properties. Hence, capability of carbon nanotubes to have
synergistic effect on the bioavailability of artemisinin was
investigated (Rezaei et al., 2011).
5. Nanotechnology approaches to enhance the bioavailability of
genistein
Genistein has been shown to possess anticancer activities
in different experimentalsystems, yet the same effects could not be
translated in the clinical setting due to its poorbioavailability.
Newer formulations of genistein such as diindolylmethane (BDIM) fromBioreseponse Inc. has shown some enhanced
bioavailability (Azmi et al., 2008 ). Researcher have tried various
nano approaches including incorporation of genistein into topical
nanoemulsion formulations composed of egg lecithin, medium
chain triglycerides (MCT) or octyldodecanol (ODD) and water by
spontaneous emulsification (Silva et al., 2009). Poli and group
have designed numerous flavonoid nano formulations over the last
few years. They have extensively reviewed their studies in a
seminal article where they have shown that incorporation into
lipidic or polymer-based nanoparticles appears to markedly help
the oral delivery of flavonoids, as these particles can protect the
drug from degradation in the gastrointestinal tract and, by virtue of
their unique absorption mechanism through the lymphatic system,
also fromfirst-pass metabolism in the liver (Leonarduzzi et al.,
2010).
6. Nanotechnology approaches to enhance the bioavailability of
resveratrol
Resveratrol
(3,5,4'-trihydroxy-trans-stilbene)
is
a
phytoalexin produced naturally by several plants when under
attack by pathogens such as bacteria or fungi. Resveratrol and its
effects is currently a topic of numerous animal and human studies.
In mouse and rat experiments, anti-cancer 35 anti-inflammatory,

blood-sugar-lowering and other beneficial cardiovascular effects of

resveratrol have been reported. However, most of these results
have yet to be replicated in humans. As with other natural
chemopreventive agents, resveratrol also has a very short half life
and is rapidly glucoronated and sulfonated, aiding its rapid
turnover and excretion. Therefore, researchers focused on ways to
enhance the bioavailability of resveratrol by different approaches
and nano based studies were among the major driving force in this
area. The earliest reported nano formulation of resveratrol comes
from a study by Yao et al., where they prepared resveratrol
chitosan nanoparticles with free amine groups on the surface so as
to conjugate ligands, which will actively target to special tissues or
organs (Yao et al., 2006 )..
3. CONCLUSION
The foregoing show that nanoparticulate systems have
great potentials, being able to convert poorly soluble, poorly
absorbed and labile herbal drugs into promisingly bioavailable
herbal drugs. Nanomized particles with small sizes are preferable
because of a larger extent of bioactivity enhancement than that of
nanomized particles with larger sizes .Researchers are now able to
effectively utilize nanoscale technologies to circumvent the issues
of poor bioavailability and solubility associated with n herbal
agents. Rapid advancements have been made in this area on
improving the nano formulations of various chemopreventive
agents such as curcumin, resveratrol, genistein, etc.
4. REFERENCES
http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/clinical_pharmacol
ogy/pharmacokinetics/drug_bioavailability.html [Cited on 2011]
Bhattaram VA, Graefe U, Kohlert C, Veit M, Derendorf H.
Pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of herbal medicinal products.
Phytomedicine. 2002; 9 (3):1-33.
Kavita Katti, Nripen Chanda, Ravi Shukla, Ajit Zambre,
Thilakavathi Suibramanian, Rajesh R. Kulkarni, Raghuraman Kannan,
and Kattesh V. Katti
Green Nanotechnology from Cumin
Phytochemicals: Generation of Biocompatible Gold Nanoparticles. Int J
Green Nanotechnol Biomed. 2009 ; 1(1): B39B52.
Yang XL Xu HB Wu JZ Applicatiaon of nanotechnology
in the research of traditional Chinese medicine Hua Zhong Li Gong Da
Xue Xue Bao 2000;28(12):101-105.
Sherry Huang, Walter H. Chang. Advantages of
Nanotechnology- Based Chinese Herb Drugs on Biological Activities
Current Drug Metabolism 2011; 10 (8): 905-913.
http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=22677.php[Cited on
2011]
Zhinan M, Huabing C, Ting W, Yajiang Y, Xiangliang Y. Eur J
Pharm Biopharm 2003;56:18996.
Ratnam DV, Ankola DD, Bhardwaj V, Sahana DK, Kumar
MN. J Control Release 2006; 113:189207.
Allemann E, Gurny R, Doelker E. Eur J Pharm Biopharm 1993;
39:17391.
Tiyaboonchai W, Tungpradit W, Plianbangchang P. Int J
Pharm2007;337:299306.
Arica YB, Benoit JP, Lamprecht A. Drug Dev Ind Pharm
2006;32:108994.

Journal of Current Pharmaceutical Research 2011; 8 (1): 1-7

Mainardes RM, Evangelista RC. Int J Pharm 2005;290:13744.

Brigger I, Dubernet C, Couvreur P. Adv Drug Deliv Rev
2002;54.
Feng-Lin Y, Tzu-Hui W, Liang-Tzung L, Thau-Ming C, ChunChing L.Food Chem Toxicol 2008;46:17717.63151.
Youfang C, Xianfu L, Hyunjin P, Richard G. Nanomed
Nanotechnol BiolMed 2009;5:31622.
Su YL, Fu ZY, Zhang JY, Wang WM, Wang H, Wang YC, et
al. PowderTechnol 2008;184:11421.
Fu RQ, He FC, Meng DS, Chen L. ACTA Academiae
medicinae militaristertiae, 28; 2006. p. 15734.
Hou J, Zhou SW. ACTA Academiae medicinae militaris tertiae
2008;30:10435.
Lertsutthiwong P, Noomun K, Jongaroonngamsang N,
Rojsitthisak P. Carbohydr Polym 2008;74:20914.
Bhawana, R.K. Basniwal, H.S. Buttar, V.K. Jain and N. Jain, "
Curcumin Nanoparticles: Preparation, Characterization and Antimicrobial
Study", J. Agric. Food Chem 2011; 59: 2056-2061.
S. Bisht, G. Feldman, S. Soni, R. Ravi, C. Karikar, Amarnath
Maitra and Anirban Maitra, "Polymeric Nanoparticle-encapsulated
Curcumin ("Nanocurcumin") A Novel Strategy for Human Cancer
Therapy", Journal of Nanobiotechnology 2007;5(3):1-18
X. Wang, Y. Jiang, Y-W. Wang, M-T. Huang, C-T. Ho. Q.
Huang, "Enhancing Anti-inflammation Activity of Curcumin through
O/W Nanoemulsions", Food Chemistry 2008 ;108:419-424
V. Kakkar, S. Singh, D. Singla and I. P. Kaur, "Exploring Solid
Lipid Nanoparticles to Enhance the Oral Bioavailability of Curcumin",
Mol. Nutr Food Res 2011; 55: 495-503
S. Onoue, H. Takahashi, Y. Kawabata, Y. Seto, J. Hatanaka, B.
Timmeramann and S. Yamada, "Formulation Design and Photochemical
Studies on Nanocrystal Solid Dispersion of Curcumin with Improved Oral
Bioavailability", J. of Pharmaceutical Sciences 2010; 99(4):1871-1881
P.P.Dandekar, R. Jain. S. Patil, R. Dhumal, D.
Tiwari, S. Sharma, G. Vanage and V. Patravale, "Curcumin-Loaded
Hydrogel Nanoparticles: Application in Anti-malarial Therapy and
Toxicological Evalution", J. of Pharmaceutical Sciences 2010; 99 (12):
4992- 5010.
S. Mourtas, M. Canovi, C. Zona, D. Aurilia, A. Niarakis, B. L.
Feria, M. Salmona, F. Nocotra, M. Gobbi and S. G. Antimisiaris,

"Curcumin-decorated Nanoliposomes with Very High Affinity for

Amyloid-1-42 Peptide", Biomaterials2011; 32 :1635-1645.
F-L. Yen, T-H. Wu, C-W. Tzeng, L-T. Lin, and C-C. Lin,
"Curcumin Nanoparticles Improve the Physicochemical Properties of
Curcumin and Effectively Enhance its Antioxidant and Antihepatoma
Activities", J. Agri. Food Chem2010; 58: 7376-7382.
Wen Tan, Yingbo Li, Meiwan Chen, Yitao Wang. Berberine
hydrochloride: anticancer activity and nanoparticulate delivery system.
International Journal of Nanomedicine 2011:6 17731777
Qi Shen, Ying Wang,Yi Zhang. Improvement of colchicine oral
bioavailability by incorporating eugenol in the nanoemulsion as an oil
excipient and enhancer International Journal of Nanomedicine. 2011;6:
1237 1243.
M. Kakran, N.G. Sahoo, L. Li , Z. Judeh, Y. Wang, K. Chong,
L. Loh. Fabrication of drug nanoparticles by evaporative precipitation of
nanosuspension; International Journal of Pharmaceutics; 2010; 383(1-2):
285-292.
Behzad Rezaei, Najmeh Majidi, Shokoofe Noori and Zuhair M.
Hassan, Multiwalled carbon nanotubes effect on the bioavailability of
artemisinin and its cytotoxity to cancerous cells. Journal Of Nanoparticle
Research. 2011; 13( 12): 6339-6346.
Azmi, A.S.; Ahmad, A.; Banerjee, S.; Rangnekar, V.M.;
Mohammad, R.M.; Sarkar, F.H.Chemoprevention of pancreatic cancer:
Characterization of Par-4 and its modulation by 3,3'diindolylmethane
(DIM). Pharm. Res. 2008; 25:2117-2124.
Silva, A.P.; Nunes, B.R.; De Oliveira, M.C.; Koester, L.S.;
Mayorga, P.; Bassani, V.L.; Teixeira, H.F. Development of topical
nanoemulsions containing the isoflavone genistein. Pharmazie 2009;64:
32-35.
Leonarduzzi, G.; Testa, G.; Sottero, B.; Gamba, P.; Poli, G.
Design and development of Nano vehicle-based delivery systems for
preventive or therapeutic supplementation with flavonoids. Curr. Med.
Chem. 2010;17: 74-95.
Jang, M.; Pezzuto, J.M. Cancer chemopreventive activity of
resveratrol. Drugs Exp. Clin. Res.1999; 25: 65-77.
Yao, Q.; Hou, S.X.; He, W.L.; Feng, J.L.; Wang, X.C.; Fei,
H.X.; Chen, Z.H. [Study on the preparation of resveratrol chitosan
nanoparticles with free amino groups on the surface].Zhongguo Zhong
Yao Za Zhi 2006; 31: 205-208.

Journal of Current Pharmaceutical Research 2011; 8 (1): 1-7

Table .1 Nanostructured herbal formulations.

Formulations
Triptolidenanoparticle
Nanoparticles of
Cuscuta chinensis
Radix salvia

Active ingredients
Triptolide
Flavonoids and lignans
R. salvia miltiorrhiza

miltiorrhiza nanoparticles
Taxel-loaded nanoparticles
Glycyrrhizic acid-loaded
Nanoparticles
Naringenin-loaded
Nanoparticles

Taxel
Glycyrrhizic Acid
Naringenin

Applications of nanostructured formulations

Enhance the penetration of drugs through the
stratum corneum by increased hydration
Improve water solubility,

Biological activity
Anti-inflammatory
Hepatoprotective,
antioxidant effects
Coronary heart diseases,

Improve the bioavailability

Enhance the bioavailability and

sustained drug release
Improve the bioavailability
Improved the release of NAR
and improved its solubility

Reference
(Zhinan et al., 2003)
(Feng-Lin et al., 2008 )
(Youfang et al., 2009:
Su et al., 2008 )

angina
Anticancer
Anti-inflammatory,
antihypertensiv
Hepatoprotective

(Fu et al., 2006 )

(Hou et al., 2006 )
(Lertsutthiwong et al., 2008 )

Table 2. Nanotechnology strategies to improve bioavailability and therapeutic efficacy of curcumin.

Nanotechnology strategy
Antimicrobial nanoparticles
Polymeric encapsulated
nanoparticle curcumin
oil in water nanoemulsion
of curcumin
Curcumin loaded solid lipid
nanoparticle
Nanocrystal soid dispersion of curcumin
Curcumin loaded hydrogel nanoparticles
Nanoliposomes decorated with curcumin
Curcumin nanoparticles

Expected benefits
Shows superior activity as compared to that of solution of regular curcumin in DMSO.
Nanocurcumin shows that it is as effective as the larger amount of free compound
against pancreatic cell growth
enhances antiinflammation activity
improves bioavailability resulting in remarkable reduction in dose
Enhances biovailability along with photostability
Exhibit large improvement in antimalarial action as compared to that of curcumin control
exhibit antifibrillogenic activity having potential to target Alzheimers disease pathogenic marker
For diagnostic and therapeutic
Enhancement of antioxidant and antihepatoma activity

Reference
(Bhawana et al., 2011 )
(Bisht et al., 2007 )
(Wang et al., 2008 )
(Kakkar, et al., 2011 )
(Onoue et al., 2010 )
(Dandekar et al., 2010 )
(Dandekar et al., 2010 )
(Mourtas et al., 2011)