ABSTRACT

The present study investigates the influence of co-administration of different concentrations (2, 6, and 10 mg) of curcumin on goat intestinal permeability of berberine chloride (BBC) using Franz diffusion cell. Data obtained in triplicate from permeability studies were used to calculate percentage cumulative drug release (% CDR), apparent permeability (Papp), flux (J) and enhancement ratio (ER). Co-administration of 6 mg concentration of curcumin with BBC was found to be optimum to enhance the permeability of BBC up to 23.92 ± 0.78 % CDR, over control (8.49 ± 1.45 % CDR). At the optimized concentration of curcumin, permeability characteristics were improved significantly compared to control. The present study reveals the beneficial effect of co-administration of curcumin (6 mg) to promote membrane permeability of BBC which would be expected to improve its bioavailability, thereby therapeutic efficacy. The effect could be attributed to curcumin-mediated inhibition of intestinal efflux pump P-gp, acting as an absorption barrier for BBC.