de Souza Silva, Flávio Kunert [UNESP]Costa-Orlandi, Caroline Barcelos [UNESP]Fernandes, Mariza Aires [UNESP]Pegorin Brasil, Giovana Sant'Ana [UNESP]Mussagy, Cassamo UssemaneScontri, Mateus [UNESP]Sasaki, Josana Carla da Silva [UNESP]de Sousa Abreu, Ana Paula [UNESP]Guerra, Nayrim Brizuela [UNESP]Floriano, Juliana Ferreira [UNESP]de Mendonça, Ricardo JoséCaetano, Guilherme FerreiraFarhadi, NedaGómez, AlejandroHuang, ShuyiFarias, Andressa Machado [UNESP]Primo, Fernando Lucas [UNESP]Li, BingbingFusco-Almeida, Ana Marisa [UNESP]Dokmeci, Mehmet RemziJucaud, VadimMendes-Giannini, Maria José Soares [UNESP]Cardoso, Marcos RobertoHerculano, Rondinelli Donizetti [UNESP]2023-07-292023-07-292023-07-01International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, v. 242.1879-00030141-8130http://hdl.handle.net/11449/248812Natural rubber latex (NRL) is a biopolymer widely used in biomedical applications. In this work, we propose an innovative cosmetic face mask, combining the NRL's biological properties with curcumin (CURC), which has a high level of antioxidant activity (AA) to provide anti-aging benefits. Chemical, mechanical and morphological characterizations were performed. The CURC released by the NRL was evaluated by permeation in Franz cells. Cytotoxicity and hemolytic activity assays were performed to assess safety. The findings showed that the biological properties of CURC were preserved after loading in the NRL. About 44.2 % of CURC was released within the first six hours, and in vitro permeation showed that 9.36 % ± 0.65 was permeated over 24 h. CURC–NRL was associated with a metabolic activity higher than 70 % in 3 T3 fibroblasts, cell viability ≥95 % in human dermal fibroblasts, and a hemolytic rate ≤ 2.24 % after 24 h. Furthermore, CURC-NRL maintained the mechanical characteristics (range suitable) for human skin application. We observed that CURC-NRL preserved ~20 % antioxidant activity from curcumin-free after loading in the NRL. Our results suggest that CURC–NRL has the potential to be used in the cosmetics industry, and the experimental methodology utilized in this study can be applied to different kinds of face masks.engCurcuminFacial maskNatural rubber latexArtigo10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.1247782-s2.0-85159071052