Hepatoprotective Study of Curcumin-Soya Lecithin Complex

The purpose of present study was to prepare and characterize the complex between curcumin and soya lecithin, and to evaluate its hepatoprotective activity. The curcumin-soya lecithin complex was prepared by dissolving curcumin and soya lecithin in equimolar ratio in dichloromethane and heating at 60°C for 2 h. The curcumin-soya lecithin complex was characterized by DSC, FTIR and NMR spectroscopy. The prepared complex provided a 3-fold increase in solubility of curcumin. On evaluation of in vitro intestinal permeability of curcumin across the everted sheep gut sac, the complex was found to provide the higher intestinal permeation of curcumin. On in vivo evaluation of curcumin-soya lecithin complex in paracetamol-induced hepatotoxicity in mice, it was observed that the complexed curcumin afforded a significantly higher protection against paracetamol-induced rise in serum aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase levels as compared to pure curcumin.