Objective: To investigate in vivo pharmacokinetics and oral bioavailability of curcumin nanosuspensions in rats. Method: The same dose of curcumin bulk drugs and curcumin nanosuspensions were orally administered to two groups of rats

After gavage 20

40 min

1

2

4

6

8

12

24 h

0.3 mL blood from retinal venous plexus was obtained to measure plasma curcumin concertration ny HPLC analysis

Xterra C18 column(4.6 mm×250 mm

5 μm)

C18 pre-column(4.0 mm×2.0 mm)

column temperature 35℃

mobile phase of methanol-1% acetic acid aqueous solution(78:22)

flow rate 1.0 mL·min-1

injection volume 20 μL.The lowest limit of quantitation of curcumin and other pharmacokinetic parameters of curcumin and curcumin nanosuspensions were determined. Result: Quantification limit of curcumin in plasma was 15 μg·L-1(S/N>10)

extraction recoveries of low

medium and high concentration were (91.3±5.7)%

(93.0±4.1)%

(93.3±5.2)%

respectively.Cmax and AUC of curcumin nanosuspensions were higher than that of curcumin bulk drugs

Cmax were (863.1±390.4)

(91.8±22.9) μg·L-1;Tmax of curcumin bulk drugs and curcumin nanosuspensions were (4.4±2.2) h and (4.8±4.4) h

t1/2 were (4.6±3.2) h and (5.4±3.7) h

there was no significant change of these two parameters. Conclusion: Established HPLC analysis was reliable and stable

curcumin nanosuspensions could significantly promote absorption of curcumin and improve its bioavailability

but no significant differences were found in both absorption and metabolic.