Methodology for determination of contents and entrapment efficiency of curcumin nanostructured lipid carrier

Objective To establish a methodology for determination of the contents and entrapment efficiency of curcumin nanostructured lipid carrier.Methods Nanoparticles and free drugs were separated by ultrafiltration centrifugation for subsequent determination of the contents and entrapment efficiency of curcumin nanostructured lipid carrier by high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC).The HPLC system consisted of a reverse phase COSMOSIL C 18 column(4.6 mm×250 mm,5 μm) with a capacity for detection of UV at the wavelength of 430 nm.The mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile and 4% acetic acid(60:40,V/V) and the flow rate was set at 1.0 ml/min.Under the column temperature of 30 ℃,the typical injection volume was rated at 20μl.Results Curcumin showed preferential linearity in the range of 0.050～40.0 μg/mL(r=0.9998,n=8).The entrapment efficiency of three batches of samples was 98.11%,97.18% and 98.59%,with the drug-loading efficiency of 3.89%,3.76% and 4.12%,respectively.Conclusion Our established methodology is featured by high specificity and convenience and appears applicable for determination of drug contents and entrapment efficiency of curcumin nanostructured lipid carriers.