An Orally Administrated Hyaluronan Functionalized Polymeric Hybrid Nanoparticle System for Colon-Specific Drug Delivery

There is a pressing clinical need for advanced colon-specific local drug delivery systems that can provide major advantages in treating diseases associated with the colon, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colon cancer. A precise colon targeted drug delivery platform is expected to reduce drug side effects and increase the therapeutic response at the intended disease site locally. In this study, we report the fabrication of hyaluronan (HA) functionalized polymeric hybrid nanoparticulate system (Cur-HA NPs) by using curcumin as a model fluorescent drug. The Cur-HA NPs were about 200–300 nm in size, −51.3 mV overall surface charge after HA functionalization, with 56.0% drug released after 72 h in simulated gastrointestinal fluids. The Cur-HA NPs did not exhibit any cytotoxicity by AlamarBlue, PicoGreen and Live/Dead assays. Following the Cur-HA NPs use on HT-29 monolayer cell cultures demonstrating, the efficacy of HA functionalization increases cellular interaction, uptake when compared to uncoated nanoparticulate system. These findings indicate that HA functionalized nano-hybrid particles are effective in delivering drugs orally to the lower gastrointestinal tract (GIT) in order to treat local colonic diseases.