Nanoencapsulation Transforms Curcumin’s Antiparasitic Activity: Reduced Dose and Altered Mechanism in Taenia crassiceps Cysticerci
6 affiliations
- 1Departamento de Bioquímica, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City 04510, Mexico; (J.d.J.M.-G.); (L.R.-G.); (A.G.-F.)
- 2Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind, Brain, and Behavior Institute, Columbia University, Jerome L. Greene Science Center, 3227 Broadway, New York, NY 10027, USA;
- 3Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 04510 (UNAM), Mexico City 04510, Mexico;
- 4Departamento de Microbiología y Parasitología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City 04510, Mexico;
- 5Departamento de Farmacia, Facultad de Química, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City 04510, Mexico;
- 6Escuela de Ingenieria y Ciencias, Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Ciudad de Mexico, C. Puente 222, Mexico City 14380, Mexico;
Abstract
Free curcumin has been shown to have a lethal effect on Taenia crassiceps cysticerci, due to its ability to interfere with the parasite’s redox metabolism. Free curcumin is highly unstable, which limits its bioavailability and reduces its efficacy as an anthelmintic drug. To overcome these constraints, we evaluated the use of Polycaprolactone-Pluronic©-F68 nanoparticles (PCL/F68 NPs) to improve curcumin stability for in vitro administration against cysticerci. Our results indicate that PCL/F68 NPs effectively protect curcumin in an aqueous medium, and after 120 h incubation with 10 µM curcumin-loaded NPs, cysticerci mortality was 100%. In contrast to free curcumin, whose cysticidal activity is associated with increased ROS production, disruption of the parasitic thioredoxin antioxidant system, and tegumental damage, curcumin-loaded NPs induced cysticerci mortality in the absence of these effects and were instead associated with profound nucleolar alterations, implicating nucleolar dysfunction as a potential mediator of parasite death. The reduced dose, increased bioavailability and enhanced antiparasitic efficacy suggest that PCL/F68-CUR NPs offer a promising therapeutic strategy for treatment of cysticercosis.
Related
- Highlights in Cysteine Protease Inhibitors as Antiparasitic Agents Against Trypanosomatids
- Lipid-Polymeric Nanoencapsulation of Standardized Camellia sinensis Extract Enhances Antiangiogenic Activity and Ocular Biocompatibility.
- Carbothioamide functionalized paroxetine analogues as antiparasitic agents targeting the hypoxanthine-guanine-xanthine phosphoribosyltransferase enzyme: Synthesis, characterization, biochemical, biophysical, and in silico studies
- Thiochromene Analogues as Antiparasitic Chemotype: Synthesis, Antiplasmodial and Antitrypanosomal Profiling, Experimental Validation, and Computational Insights into Trypanothione Reductase Inhibition
- Effect of fluorinated substituents of Zn phthalocyanine: nanoencapsulation and phototoxicity
BibTeX
@article{martinezgonzalez2026nanoencapsulation,
title = {{Nanoencapsulation Transforms Curcumin’s Antiparasitic Activity: Reduced Dose and Altered Mechanism in Taenia crassiceps Cysticerci}},
author = {José de Jesús Martínez-González and Lucero Reyes-García and Alberto Guevara-Flores and Martín Escamilla-del-Arenal and Rachel Austin Duffié and Gabriela Nava-Balderas and Gerardo Leyva-Gómez and María Luisa Del Prado-Audelo and Irene Patricia del Arenal Mena},
journal = {Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland)},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.3390/antiox15101226},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13700812},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Nanoencapsulation Transforms Curcumin’s Antiparasitic Activity: Reduced Dose and Altered Mechanism in Taenia crassiceps Cysticerci
AU - José de Jesús Martínez-González
AU - Lucero Reyes-García
AU - Alberto Guevara-Flores
AU - Martín Escamilla-del-Arenal
AU - Rachel Austin Duffié
AU - Gabriela Nava-Balderas
AU - Gerardo Leyva-Gómez
AU - María Luisa Del Prado-Audelo
AU - Irene Patricia del Arenal Mena
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
JO - Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland)
DO - 10.3390/antiox15101226
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13700812
AB - Free curcumin has been shown to have a lethal effect on Taenia crassiceps cysticerci, due to its ability to interfere with the parasite’s redox metabolism. Free curcumin is highly unstable, which limits its bioavailability and reduces its efficacy as an anthelmintic drug. To overcome these constraints, we evaluated the use of Polycaprolactone-Pluronic©-F68 nanoparticles (PCL/F68 NPs) to improve curcumin stability for in vitro administration against cysticerci. Our results indicate that PCL/F68 NPs effectively protect curcumin in an aqueous medium, and after 120 h incubation with 10 µM curcumin-loaded NPs, cysticerci mortality was 100%. In contrast to free curcumin, whose cysticidal activity is associated with increased ROS production, disruption of the parasitic thioredoxin antioxidant system, and tegumental damage, curcumin-loaded NPs induced cysticerci mortality in the absence of these effects and were instead associated with profound nucleolar alterations, implicating nucleolar dysfunction as a potential mediator of parasite death. The reduced dose, increased bioavailability and enhanced antiparasitic efficacy suggest that PCL/F68-CUR NPs offer a promising therapeutic strategy for treatment of cysticercosis.
SN - 2076-3921
ER -