Strategies for Improving Bioavailability, Bioactivity, and Physical-Chemical Behavior of Curcumin
Levente Zsolt Racz,
Csaba Pal Racz,
Lucian-Cristian Pop,
Gheorghe Tomoaia,
Aurora Mocanu,
Ioana Barbu,
Melinda Sárközi,
Ioana Roman,
Alexandra Avram,
Maria Tomoaia-Cotisel,
Vlad-Alexandru Toma
Affiliations
Levente Zsolt Racz
Research Center in Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, 11 Arany Janos Str., RO-400028 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Csaba Pal Racz
Research Center in Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, 11 Arany Janos Str., RO-400028 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Lucian-Cristian Pop
Research Center in Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, 11 Arany Janos Str., RO-400028 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Gheorghe Tomoaia
Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 47 Gen. Traian Mosoiu Str., RO-400132 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Aurora Mocanu
Research Center in Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, 11 Arany Janos Str., RO-400028 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Ioana Barbu
Faculty of Biology and Geology, Babes-Bolyai University, 4-6 Clinicilor Str., RO-400006 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Melinda Sárközi
SC. Parapharm SRL, 9 Dacilor Str., RO-335200 Brad, Romania
Ioana Roman
Institute of Biological Research, Branch of NIRDBS Bucharest, 48 Republicii Str., RO-400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Alexandra Avram
Research Center in Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, 11 Arany Janos Str., RO-400028 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Maria Tomoaia-Cotisel
Research Center in Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, 11 Arany Janos Str., RO-400028 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Vlad-Alexandru Toma
Faculty of Biology and Geology, Babes-Bolyai University, 4-6 Clinicilor Str., RO-400006 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Curcumin (CCM) is one of the most frequently explored plant compounds with various biological actions such as antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, antineoplastic, and antioxidant/anti-inflammatory properties. The laboratory data and clinical trials have demonstrated that the bioavailability and bioactivity of curcumin are influenced by the feature of the curcumin molecular complex types. Curcumin has a high capacity to form molecular complexes with proteins (such as whey proteins, bovine serum albumin, β-lactoglobulin), carbohydrates, lipids, and natural compounds (e.g., resveratrol, piperine, quercetin). These complexes increase the bioactivity and bioavailability of curcumin. The current review provides these derivatization strategies for curcumin in terms of biological and physico-chemical aspects with a strong focus on different type of proteins, characterization methods, and thermodynamic features of protein–curcumin complexes, and with the aim of evaluating the best performances. The current literature review offers, taking into consideration various biological effects of the CCM, a whole approach for CCM-biomolecules interactions such as CCM-proteins, CCM-nanomaterials, and CCM-natural compounds regarding molecular strategies to improve the bioactivity as well as the bioavailability of curcumin in biological systems.
