Release Kinetics and Antibacterial Property of Curcumin-Loaded Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Pollen

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) pollen (DPP) possesses high drug loading capacity, excellent storage stability, versatility, biocompatibility, and low toxicity, which has great potential for biomedical applications. In this work, DPP was used as a vehicle to enhance the solubility of curcumin (CUR) and control its delivery. The curcumin-loaded pollen (CUR-DPP) was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and surface analysis (BET) analysis. The pore size of DPP was less than 200 nm. The CUR loading and releasing studies were monitored by the change in parameters such as time of adsorption and initial concentration of CUR. UV–Vis spectrophotometry (λ = 425 nm) was used to monitor the cumulative release of CUR. The study of drug release kinetics in phosphate buffer pH 7.4 at 37 °C showed that the best kinetic model was the first-order equation with R² = 0.9813. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values ranged from 60 to 70 μg mL⁻¹ and 70 to 80 μg mL⁻¹, respectively. In addition, CUR-DPP was used to improve the efficacy of CUR against the dangerous forms of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. CUR-DPP showed high antibacterial activity against E. coli, K. pneumoniae, and P. aeruginosa bacteria. These results will contribute to the development of antibacterial drugs for topical and internal use with high efficacy and significantly lower side effects.