• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.183-189
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• 2019

Curcumin ($C_{21}H_{20}O_6$) is a hydrophobic polyphenol found in turmeric. Although curcumin has been used as a natural medicine, its major limitation is related to poor absorption from the gut. Therefore, we developed a method for preparation of Curcumin Nanospheres (CN) to improve the aqueous-phase solubility of curcumin and investigate the functional role of CN in promoting feed efficiency and odor reduction in mice. CN showed inhibitory effects on actate dehydrogenase (LDH) cytotoxicity induced by ecotoxic substance toluene in gut epithelial HCT116 cells. In addition, the weights of internal organs (liver, heart, kidneys, and spleen) and the levels of serum Glutamate Oxaloacetate Transaminase (GOT), Glutamate Pyruvate Transaminase (GPT), and LDH did not show significant differences between mice administered oral CN for two weeks and compared to the control group. Interestingly, CN not only reduced hydrogen sulfide ($H_2S$) and ammonia ($NH_3$) levels and fecal odor, but also improved feed efficiency in mice. These results demonstrate that oral nano-delivery of anti-ecotoxicological CN is a functional system to deliver curcumin to the gut to improve feed efficiency and reduce fecal odor in mice.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.251-258
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• 2015

Curcumin, a major polyphenolic compound of turmeric, is well known to prevent non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) related to obesity. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of curcumin on hepatic fibrosis induced by carbon tetrachloride ($CCl_4$) in obese mice. $CCl_4$ was administrated in mice fed a normal diet (ND) or a high fat diet (HFD) for 7 weeks together with or without curcumin. It was conducted to examine for metabolic profiles, adipocyte size, and liver fibrosis by serum biochemistry, histology and immunohistochemistry. Also, Apoptosis of hepatic cells was determined by the TUNEL method. Treatment with curcumin significantly lowered the body weight, fasting glucose, serum AST and ALT, and decreased the adipocyte size, the number of macrophage and mast cells in adipose tissue, and collagen deposition in liver tissue in the HFD+$CCl_4$ group compared with the findings of the HFD+$CCl_4$ group. In contrast, treatment with curcumin on the ND+$CCl_4$ group did not show a significant difference except the body weight and mast cell number when compared with the ND+$CCl_4$ group. Furthermore, curcumin significantly reduced the number of parenchymal apoptotic cells, whereas it increased the number of non-parenchymal apoptotic cells, especially resembling an activated hepatic stellate cell in the liver. Taken together, this data suggests that curcumin might be an effective antifibrotic drug for the prevention of liver disease progression in obese mice. Thus, the development of curcumin as a therapy for obesity and liver fibrosis is supported.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.151-162
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to investigate the quality change of fresh-cut tumeric (Curcuma Longa Linne) according to packaging method during storage time. The fresh-cut tumeric were packaged in three different methods : degassing valve packaging (DVP), $CO_2$ gas absorber packaging (CAP) and micro-perforated packaging (MPP). After the samples were packaged, they were stored for 15 days at 4 and $23^{\circ}C$ respectively. The following parameters were observed to indicate the quality changes of the samples: weight loss, CIE $L^*a^*b^*$ colour difference, variation of gas composition inside the package, curcumin contents and changes in hardness of fresh-cut tumeric. DVP did not effectively release $CO_2$ gas to the outside. MPP was suitable to release $CO_2$ gas. However, MPP showed very fast browning and erosion, because a large amount of oxygen was introduced through the perforated hole on the film. CAP was most effective packaging method to inhibit browning, to prevent expansion of the packaging by $CO_2$ gas and to minimize weight loss of fresh-cut tumeric.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.9
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• pp.1082-1087
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• 2016

The intestinal tight junction (TJ) plays an important role as a paracellular barrier. Impaired TJ permeability and enhanced proinflammatory cytokine production are crucial pathophysiological mechanisms in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). Although proinflammatory cytokines, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interluekin-1 beta, which are markedly increased in IBD patients, have been reported to increase intestinal TJ permeability, the role of interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1α) in the TJ has not been studied. Phytochemicals could prevent proinflammatory cytokine-caused TJ alteration. Curcumin (CCM), a biologically active component of turmeric, has a strong anti-inflammatory activity. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the effect of IL-1α on intestinal epithelial TJ permeability and the role of CCM in IL-1α′s action on TJ in an in vitro intestinal epithelial system, Caco-2 monolayers. The TJ integrity of Caco-2 monolayers was estimated by measuring the flux of FITC-labeled dextran and transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER). Apical IL-1α (100 ng/ml) treatment elevated TJ permeability and suppressed TEER of Caco-2 monolayers. Pretreatment with CCM (20 μM) for 30 min significantly inhibited IL-1α-induced TJ alterations, such as increased TJ permeability and decreased in TEER values. These results demonstrated that IL-1α-induced increases in Caco-2 TJ permeability and CCM blocked the action of IL-1α in the TJ.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.253-258
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• 2016

In this study, nano-micelled curcumin was produced with natural sea salt with a view to comparing the in silico molecular binding affinity of pure curcumin compound to the active site of transthyretin. Using an optical light microscope and an electron microscope, it was found that the structure of the surface and the cross-section of nano-micelled curcumin was significantly different from natural sea salt. In particular, the crystal structure and nano-components in the nano-micelled curcumin were united, and the layer was more strongly stabilized than untreated salts. In the virtual 3D structure, in silico molecular docking study, the ligand binding affinity of nano-micelled curcumin to the transthyretin active site was found to be higher than that of pure curcumin. In addition, a nano-micelled curcumin formula interacted with more amino acid residues of transthyretin domains. The pharmacophore feature of the nano-micelled curcumin also showed more condensed and constrained features than normal curcumin. These results suggest that nano-micelled curcumin may effectively bind to and stabilize transthyretin, thereby regulating transthyretin-related physiological diseases. Collectively, the nano-micelled curcumin process suggests that normal curcumin can be modified more efficiently into the novel bio-functional chemical formula to stabilize the transthyretin structure. Therefore, the nano-micelled curcumin process can be applied to the field of the regulation of Alzheimer's disease.

• Journal of agriculture & life science
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.129-139
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• 2016

Curcumin plays a protective role in brain injury through its anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Moreover, peroxiredoxin-5 exerts a protective effect against oxidative stress. The aim of this study was to investigate whether curcumin modulated the peroxiredoxin-5 expression in focal cerebral ischemic animal model. Middle cerebral artery occlusion(MCAO) was performed to induce cerebral ischemic injury in rats. Adult male rats were injected intraperitoneally with vehicle or curcumin(50mg/kg B.W.) 1 h after MCAO and cerebral cortex tissues were collected 24 h after MCAO. Photographs of hematoxylin and eosin staining showed that MCAO induced necrotic changes with scalloped shrunken form and apoptotic changes with nuclear chromatin condensations. However, curcumin treatment attenuated MCAO-induced histopathological changes. Moreover, this study clearly showed that peroxiredoxin-5 expression was decreased in MCAO operated animal with vehicle using a proteomics approach. However, this decrease in peroxiredoxin-5 expression was attenuated by curcumin treatment. Reverse-transcription PCR and Western blot analyses confirmed that curcumin treatment alleviated the MCAO injury-induced decrease in peroxiredoxin-5 expression(p<0.05). These results demonstrated that curcumin regulates peroxiredoxin-5 expression in MCAO animal model. In conclusion, our findings suggest that curcumin exerts a neuroprotective effect in cerebral ischemia by attenuating the MCAO-induced decrease in peroxiredoxin-5 expression.