Centella asiatica Extract Loaded BSA Nanoparticles Using the Organic and Conventional C. asiatica to Improve Bioavailability Activity and Drug Delivery System

Abstract

Centella asiatica (CA) extracts have been described for their high phytochemical contents, especially phenolic compounds. Active extracts also showed effectively potential in vitro but not in vivo experiments due to their poor lipid solubility or inappropraietd molecular weight, which resulted in poor bioavailability. This study, the nanoencapsulation process is applied to enhance bioavailability, stability and bioactivity of CA extracts. BSA (Bovine serum albumin) nanoparticles containing phenolic extracts of CA were synthesized by an adapted desolvation method at the ratio between CA extract: BSA at 1:2, 1:3 and 1:4. The entrapment efficiency, loading efficiency, solubility and stability are used to test the efficiency of the nanoparticles. The in vitro released kinetic is monitored for 6-hour period in both artificial gastric buffer at pH 2.0 and intestinal juice buffer at pH 7.4. The result showed that the different ratio of the CA concentrations to BSA nanoparticles had no significant effect to its bioavailability (p < 0.05). On the other hand, the types of extraction solvents including ethanol, chloroform and hexane significantly affected the level of bioavailability (p < 0.05). Especially, the ethanol extracts loaded in BSA at ratio of 1:2 showed the best result, and it was the most economical way due to less consumption of BSA nanoparticle was used. The study of CA extracts loaded in BSA nanoparticles here demonstated the improvement of bioavailability and drug delivery system.