Curcumin-loaded nanoemulsion improves haemorrhagic stroke recovery in wistar rats

Cerebrovascular diseases are currently a major global health problem. Considering the limitations of current therapy, the search for new alternatives for the treatment of these diseases is necessary and, in this context, curcumin, a molecule that has neuroprotective properties already described in the literature. A limiting factor when considering therapies for the nervous tissue is the presence of the blood–brain barrier which stimulates the search for new drug delivery strategies. In this context, nanoencapsulation seems to be a promising alternative. In this work, we compared the protective effects of free and nanoemulsified curcumin after intracerebral haemorrhage induced by collagenase (ICH) in Wistar rats. Injury area, motor activity, oxidative stress in the brain and serum biochemical parameters were investigated. Two hours after surgery, the first dose was injected intraperitoneally, followed by 24 and 48 h administration. Behavioural analysis was performed through 3 different tests: open field, beam walking and foot fault (24, 48 and 72 h respectively). At the end of the recovering time (3 days after injury), the animals were euthanized and the brain (for analysis of injury area and oxidative stress), blood (for biochemical parameters), kidney and liver (for histopathological examination) were investigated. Curcumin nanoemulsion 30 mg/kg was able to improve behavioural recovery, reduce the size of the haematoma and attenuate the weight loss caused by ICH. In terms of oxidative parameters, we observed that curcumin nanoemulsion modulated antioxidant responses with therapeutic potential against ICH. Only discrete results in few parameters were found with free-curcumin in the same dose.