Optimization and In Vitro Evaluation of Curcumin-loaded Calcium Alginate Microbeads using Box-Behnken Design for Colorectal Cancer

After lung cancer and breast cancer, colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common type of cancer and has the second-highest fatality rate. Curcumin is one such naturally occurring dietary compound that demonstrated promise to treat colon cancer. For that, the goal of the current study was to coat curcumin with Eudragit S100 to treat colorectal cancer in the distal intestine release. The multiparticulate dosage form can increase the solubility of curcumin in the colon environment, sustain the drug release, and protect the drug from abrupt degradation in the colon environment. All of these alterations can enhance the colon tissue levels, especially in the colon cancer cells in the patients, and thereby can enhance the utility of the therapy. By using the ionotropic gelation technique, the formulations were made. Moreover, Design Expert 13 used a three-factor, three-level Box-Behnken design (BBD) in this work to optimize the formulation for colon-targeted drug delivery. The concentration of potassium alginate, the concentration of calcium chloride, and the curing duration were considered independent variables, and prepared microbeads were refined to study their impacts on entrapment effectiveness and particle size. Eudragit S100 was enteric coated on Calcium alginate beads with an improved core. Regarding particle size and entrapment effectiveness, respectively, the polymer concentration and curing duration had a substantial impact. The ideal concentrations of calcium chloride and potassium alginate were 15% w/v and 6% w/v, respectively, with a 20-minute curing time. With a drug entrapment efficiency of 88.4%, the improved formulation had particles with a size of 708 μm. After 12 hours, 79.23±0.32% of the drug was released following an enteric coating of Eudragit S100 of optimized calcium alginate microbeads (10% weight gain). The present study conclusively demonstrates the usefulness of a Box-Behnken design in the optimization of colon-targeted formulations. To effectively treat colorectal cancer, enteric-coated calcium alginate microbeads can be administered orally to deliver curcumin precisely to the colon.