Development and Characterization of Scaffolds Obtained by Aggregation of Balls of Chitosan and Chitosan/Curcumin

Curcumin (Curcuma longa) is a naturally occurring drug, found in particular in saffron, which improves wound healing, has anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and especially anticancer properties. Thus, in this study, curcumin has been studied in association with chitosan which is a natural polymer with attractive features such as: high hydrophilicity, biocompatibility and non-toxicity, besides function effectively as a carrier for the preparation of formulations in drug release. Therefore the objective of this study was to develop scaffolds of chitosan and chitosan/curcumin by the particle aggregation method, using sodium sulfate as a bath solution. The structures were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Optical Microscopy (OM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and Cytotoxicity. From the FTIR results, it was observed the presence of bands corresponding to sulfate, due to the sodium sulfate used as a coagulant for the production of the spheres. Its presence was also observed in EDS. According to the OM and SEM it was found that the addition of the drug resulted in an external structure with the regular particles. The biological tests showed satisfactory results showing no cytotoxicity of the scaffolds.