Statistical Optimization of Production Conditions of Polycaprolactone-Chitosan-Curcumin Particles

Curcumin is an herbal plant with great therapeutic applications. al- though it is useful in treating several diseases, its low solubility in wa- ter and low bioavailability in living systems are limiting factors in us- ing curcumin as a medicine. one way to overcome these shortcomings is the production of curcumin micro/nanoparticles. in this research, the particles of curcumin loaded with polycaprolactone (pcl)/chito- san were synthesized by the electrospray technique. to obtain the op- timal conditions, statistical optimization was carried out through the response surface method (rsm). the effects of flow rate, polymer con- centration, and pcl weight percentage on solution properties, mean particle size, and particle size distribution were investigated. accord- ing to experimental results, the optimal size (471 nm) and size dis- tribution (103) of particles were found at the lowest level of polymer concentration (2%) and flow rate (0.25 ml/hr) and the highest level of pcl weight percentage (80%). thus, the result of this study can be used to improve the quality of curcumin based medicine.