Abstract: Curcumin (CUR), as a traditional Chinese medicine monomer extracted from the rhizomes of some plants in Ginkgo and Araceae, has shown a wide range of therapeutic and pharmacological activities such as anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidation, anti-virus, anti-liver fibrosis, anti-atherosclerosis, and anti-Alzheimer’s disease. However, some issues significantly affect its biological activity, such as low aqueous solubility, physico-chemical instability, poor bioavailability, and low targeting efficacy. In order to further improve its curative effect, numerous efficient drug delivery systems have been carried out. Among them, physicochemical targeting preparations could improve the properties, targeting ability, and biological activity of CUR. Therefore, in this review, CUR carrier systems are discussed that are driven by physicochemical characteristics of the microenvironment (eg, pH variation of tumorous tissues), affected by external influences like magnetic fields and vehicles formulated with thermo-sensitive materials.
Keywords: curcumin, targeted delivery system, pH-sensitive, magnetic-response, thermo-sensitive, cancer