Fabrication and characterization of curcumin-loaded nanoparticles using licorice protein isolate from Radix Glycyrrhizae

Huiqin Wang, Binbin Song, Jianwu Zhou, Guanzhen Gao*, Yanan Ding, Xiangyu Meng, Lijing Ke, Wei Ding, Suyun Zhang, Tianbao Chen, Pingfan Rao

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Licorice was widely used in food and herbal medicine. In its extract industry, a substantial amount of licorice protein was produced and discarded as waste. Herein, we extracted Licorice Protein Isolate (LPI) and explored its potential as a curcumin nanocarrier. Using a pH-driven method, we fabricated LPI-curcumin nanoparticles with diameters ranging from 129.30 ± 3.21 nm to 75.03 ± 1.19 nm, depending on the LPI/curcumin molar ratio. The formation of LPI-curcumin nanoparticles was primarily driven by hydrophobic interactions, with curcumin entrapped in LPI being in an amorphous form. These nanoparticles significantly enhanced curcumin properties in terms of solubility, photochemical stability, and stability under varying pH, storage, and physiological conditions. Moreover, the loaded curcumin exhibited a 2.58-fold increase in cellular antioxidant activity on RAW 264.7 cells and a 1.86-fold increase in antitumor activity against HepG2 cells compared to its free form. These findings suggested that LPI could potentially serve as a promising novel delivery material.
Original languageEnglish
Article number128235
Number of pages9
JournalInternational Journal of Biological Macromolecules
Volume255
Early online date22 Nov 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2024

Keywords

  • Licorice protein isolate
  • Curcumin
  • Nanoparticles

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