Title Page
Abstract
Contents
1. Introduction 12
2. Experimental 16
2.1. Materials 16
2.2. Formulation of curcumin loaded microcapsules 16
2.3. Encapsulation efficacy of curcumin loaded microcapsules 17
2.4. Preparation of injectable gel 17
2.5. Viscosity measurement 18
2.6. In vitro drug release from curcumin loaded microcapsules 18
2.7. In vivo injections 19
2.8. Histological analysis 20
2.9. Statistical analysis 21
3. Results 22
3.1. Formulation and characterization of curcumin loaded microcapsules 22
3.2. Preparation and characterization of an injectable gel 24
3.3. In vitro drug release 25
3.4. In vivo injection 27
4. Discussion 37
5. Conclusion 39
Reference 40
Publication 46
Table 1. Formulation of curcumin loaded microcapsules. 23
Table 2. Calculation of volume doubling time and doubling rates of tumors after the intratumoral injection of saline (control), free curcumin (single and... 31
Figure 1. Schematic diagram for the preparation of curcumin loaded microcapsules. 22
Figure 2. Image of curcumin loaded microcapsules (a) optical (b) fluorescence (c) merge. Scale bar = 200 μM (d) 200 μM and (e) 800 μM... 23
Figure 3. Viscosity curve of chitosan, CMC and chitosan + CMC at 37 ℃ respectively. 24
Figure 4. (a) Photograph of in vitro release using curcumin loaded microcapsules. (b) SEM image of curcumin loaded microcapsules after in... 26
Figure 5. In vitro release of curcumin drug from curcumin loaded microcapsules and curcumin loaded microcapsules with gel with curcumin... 27
Figure 6. (a) Intratumoral injection of curcumin loaded microcapsules and curcumin loaded microcapsules with gel. (b) Graph showing changes in... 29
Figure 7. Showing inhibitory effects of saline (control), free curcumin (single and repeat), curcumin loaded microcapsules and curcumin loaded... 30
Figure 8. (a) Systemic distribution of curcumin drug in tumor, (b) remaining curcumin drug in tissues after intratumoral injection of free curcumin (single)... 32
Figure 9. Histologically analyzed sections of tumors (H&E stained) on day 1, 10 and 20 after injection of saline (control), free curcumin (single and repeat),... 34
Figure 10. DAPI (nuclei) staining, TUNEL (apoptotic cells) staining, green fluorescence (curcumin drug) and merged image of tumor excised at 1, 10... 35
Figure 11. Nubmer of TUNEL-positive cells of free curcumin (single and repeat), curcumin loaded microcapsules and curcumin loaded microcapsules... 36