Inducible nitric oxide synthase and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors have been shown to participate in nerve cellinjury during spinal cord ischemia. This study observed a protective effect of curcumin on ischemic spinal cord injury. Models of spinal cord ischemia were established by ligating the lumbar artery from the left renal artery to the bifurcation of the abdominal aorta. At 24 hours after model establishment, the rats were intraperitoneal y injected with curcumin. Reverse transcrip-tion-polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemical results demonstrated that after spinal cord ischemia, inducible nitric oxide synthase and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor mRNA and protein expression significantly increased. However, curcumin significantly decreased inducible nitric oxide synthase and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor mRNA and protein expression in the ischemic spinal cord. Tarlov scale results showed that curcumin significantly improved motor function of the rat hind limb after spinal cord ischemia. The results demonstrate that curcumin exerts a neuroprotective ef-fect against ischemic spinal cord injury by decreasing inducible nitric oxide synthase and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor expression.

Antioxidant activity of curcumine as protector on methylmercury induced pancreas damage in mice

Curcumin has been reported to have a strong antioxidant activity.In recent years,use of antioxidant in reducing heavy metal toxicities has been increased worldwide.In this study,we investigated the protective effects of curcumin on methylmercuryinduced pancreas damage in mice.Briefly,50 male mice were divided into five groups as follows:negative control (mice were given daily with aquadest);positive control (mice were orally given 2 mg/kg BW methylmercury daily for 35 d);and the treatment groups (mice were orally adminstered with curcumin 100 mg;200 mg;400 mg/kg BW daily for 35 d,and from 5th day,animals were given 2 mg/kg BW methylmercury daily 1 h after curcumin administration for 30 d).On day 35,levels of glucose,insulin,MDA,SOD and GPx were measured.Pancreas also was fixed in 10％ neutral buffered formalin solution for histopathological examination.The results revealed that methylmercury toxicity induced a significant increase in the levels of glucose and MDA.Moreover,a significant decrease in insulin,SOD and GPx levels was observed,and pancreas tissues showed degeneration and necrotic changes in the islets of Langerhans.Treatment with curcumin (400 mg/kg BW but not 200 mg/kg BW and 100 mg/kg BW) significantly (P＜0.05) decreased glucose and MDA levels in pancreas in mercury-induced mice.Treatment with curcumin 400 mg/kg BW also significantly increased insulin,SOD and GPx levels and reversed the histopathological damage in methylmercury-induced mice.Taken together,curcumin could be a potent natural herbal product,which had pancreas protective effect against methylmercury-induced pancreas damage in mice.

Nrf2-mediated antioxidant and detoxifying enzyme induction by a combination of curcumin and sulforaphane

NHE-1与肝纤维化的关系及姜黄素的影响

姜黄素(Curcumin,CUR)是从中药姜黄中提取的一种酚类色素,其对四氯化碳、D-氨基半乳糖及卡介苗加脂多糖诱导的小鼠急性肝损伤有保护作用,对四氯化碳诱导的大鼠肝纤维化有治疗作用,可显著抑制肝星形细胞(HSC)的增殖和分泌细胞外基质,并诱导其凋亡[1-3].本研究观察肝纤维化大鼠肝脏Na+/H-交换泵(NHE)与α平滑肌肌动蛋白(α-SMA)、ERK-1、NF-κB表达关系及姜黄素的影响,探讨姜黄素对肝纤维化的作用.

热休克蛋白70在Curcumin抑制STS介导的神经元毒性损伤中的作用

目的：探讨HSP70表达在姜黄素（Curcumin）预处理抑制星形孢菌素（Staurosporine，STS）介导的神经元毒性应激损伤中的作用。方法采用SD大鼠乳鼠海马神经元原代培养细胞，STS诱导建立神经细胞毒性应激损伤模型，在培养基中加入槲皮素（Quercetin）阻断热休克蛋白70（heat shock protein 70，HSP70）表达。将细胞按添加药物的不同分成以下6组：正常对照组、STS模型组、Quercetin＋STS模型组、Curcumin＋STS预处理组、Curcumin＋Quercetin＋STS处理组、Curcumin组。采用噻唑蓝（MTT）法测定各组细胞活性，通过检测乳酸脱氢酶（LDH）释放率研究各组对细胞的毒性作用，Western Blot法检测各组HPS70表达情况。结果 MTT结果显示Curcumin＋STS预处理组的细胞活性比STS模型组细胞活性明显升高（P＜0.001）；与Quercetin＋STS模型组相比，Curcumin＋quercetin＋STS处理组的细胞活性无明显变化。LDH结果显示Curcumin＋STS预处理组的神经细胞毒性明显小于STS模型组（P＜0.001）。Western Blot结果显示，与 STS 模型组相比，Curcumin ＋STS 预处理组 HSP70蛋白表达量明显增加（P＜0.001）。结论Curcumin可通过上调HSP70的表达抑制STS介导的神经元毒性应激损伤；当加入Quercetin阻断神经细胞HSP70的表达后，Curcumin抑制STS介导的神经元毒性应激损伤作用被抵消。

A novel method for analysis of three active components curcumin, demethoxycurcumin and bisdemethoxycurcumin in Curcuma longa L. was developed by HPLC coupled with electrochemical detection. Three curcuminoids were well separated on a C18 column and detected with high sensitivity. A mobile phase containing acetonitrile and 10 mM Na2HPO4-H3PO4 (pH 5.0) (50:50, v/v) was used. Good linearity was obtained in the range of 0.208-41.6, 0.197-39.4, and 0.227-114μM for curcumin, demethoxycurcumin and bisdemethoxycurcumin respectively. The limit of detection reached up to 10 ? 8 M, which was lower than that by UV detection. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) ranged from 1.06%to 1.88%for intra-day precision and from 4.30%to 5.79%for inter-day precision, respectively. The proposed method has been applied in real herb sample and recoveries ranging from 86.3%to 111%were obtained.