Madalina-Anca UJICA1, Cristina-Teodora DOBROTĂ1,2,3, Gheorghe TOMOAIA3,4, Cristina-Lavinia ROȘOIU2, Aurora MOCANU1, Csaba-Pal RACZ1, Sorin RIGA1,3, Maria TOMOAIA-COTISEL1,3*
Abstract. Natural polyphenolic compounds, such as curcumin, CCM, trans resveratrol, RES or R, and silymarin, SIL, have beneficial effects on human health due to their pharmacological activities and protective role against many diseases. They are recognized as antioxidants that possess bone tissue regenerative properties, metabolic regulation effects, anticancer activity, as well as hepatoprotective and cardioprotective effects. Whey protein concentrate (WPC) is often used to enhance and stabilize various foods for medical diet. It helps curcumin improve its water solubility, poor bioavailability, low stability in aqueous media and enhance the efficacy of CMC. This work provides insights into the nanostructure of several composites based on natural polyphenolic compounds, whey protein concentrate and PEG6000, namely: CCM-PEG6000, CCM-WPC-PEG6000, CCM-WPC-RES-PEG6000 and CCM-WPC-SIL-PEG6000. These advanced composites could possess a wide range of metabolic regulatory effects and tissue regenerative properties. This research paper also provides insights into the natural compounds used to generate innovative gold nanoparticles based on advanced composites prepared using resveratrol, R, denoted GNP_R1. The natural compounds used are: resveratrol, R, piperine, P and icariin, Ic. R, P and Ic and have demonstrated anticancer effects, inducing apoptosis, inhibiting cell migration and proliferation. In addition, R, P, Ic and doxorubicin, D, which is an anticancer drug, have recently been used jointly to functionalize gold nanoparticles, denoted GNP-R1, to develop new innovative composites, such as GNP_R1@R/P/Ic/D compared to GNP_R1@D. These innovative composites demonstrated an enhanced effect against cancer, compared to doxorubicin administered alone.
Keywords: curcumin, resveratrol, silymarin, whey protein concentrate, PEG6000, doxorubicin, piperine, icariin, gold nanoparticles
DOI 10.56082/annalsarscibio.2025.2.67
1 Research Center of Excellence in Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Babeş-Bolyai University, 11 Arany Janos St., RO-400028 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2 Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology and Geology, Babeş-Bolyai University, 44 Republicii St., 400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
3 Academy of Romanian Scientists, 3 Ilfov St., RO-050044 Bucharest, Romania
4 Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 47 General Traian Mosoiu St., RO-400132 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
*Corresponding author e-mail: mcotisel@gmail.com, maria.tomoaia@ubbcluj.ro
PUBLISHED in Annals Academy of Romanian Scientists Series on Biological Sciences, Volume 14 no 2, 2025