Abstract
Abstract
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease associated with oxidative stress and mucosal inflammation. Curcumin (Cur) shows promise for UC management, but its poor aqueous solubility and instability in the gastrointestinal tract lead to low oral bioavailability and limited therapeutic efficacy. In this study, curcumin-loaded ROS-responsive nanoparticles (HSNPs@Cur) were developed based on diselenide-modified hyaluronic acid (HA-Se) to improve the stability and oral delivery of Cur. HSNPs@Cur exhibited good stability under different temperatures, pH, and storage conditions, indicating that nanoencapsulation effectively protected Cur under non-oxidative conditions. In the presence of H
2
O
2
, HSNPs@Cur showed ROS-responsive behavior and rapidly released Cur within 8 h. In addition, HSNPs@Cur demonstrated significant antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities
in vitro
, likely owing to the combined contribution of Cur bioactivity and diselenide-bond-mediated ROS responsiveness. HSNPs@Cur exhibited good hemocompatibility, cytocompatibility, and
in vivo
biocompatibility following oral administration, with no obvious systemic toxicity or histopathological abnormalities observed in major organs. These results provide preliminary evidence that HSNPs@Cur represents a stable and biocompatible ROS-responsive oral nanocarrier with potential to improve the stability and oral delivery of Cur for UC-related applications.