Curcumin, an Active Constituent of Turmeric Spice: Implication in the Prevention of Lung Injury Induced by Benzo(a) Pyrene (BaP) in Rats

Abstract

Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) is a well-known carcinogen and enhances oxidative stress and apoptosis and also alters several molecular pathways. Curcumin is an active ingredient of Curcuma longa, and it has potent anti-inflammatory, antioxidant activity that defends cells from oxidative stress and cell death. The objectives of the present study were to explore the protective effects of curcumin against long-term administration of BaP induced disturbances in lungs of rats. Male rats were randomly divided into four groups: saline control, BaP only, BaP + curcumin, and curcumin only. Lung histopathology, electron microscopy, inflammatory cytokine release, antioxidant levels, apoptosis, and cell cycle were examined. Instillation of BaP significantly increased infiltration of inflammatory cells in alveolar space and inflammatory cytokine in blood. BaP induced lung tissue alterations including mild bronchitis, scant chronic inflammatory cell infiltrate in the wall of the respiratory bronchiole, and mild intra-alveolar haemorrhage. However, these alterations were found to be significantly less as mild inflammatory cell infiltrate in curcumin plus BaP treated group. Furthermore, electron microscopy results also showed necrotic changes and broken cell membrane of Type-II epithelial cell of alveoli in BaP group, which was reduced after adding curcumin treatment. In addition, we found BaP plus curcumin treatment effectively reduced inflammatory cytokines Tumour Necrosis Factor alpha (TNF-α), Interleukin 6 (IL-6), and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in blood serum. Moreover, the levels of tunnel staining and p53 expression were significantly increased by BaP, whereas these changes were noticeably modulated after curcumin treatment. BaP also interferes in normal cell cycle, which was significantly improved with curcumin treatment. Overall, our findings suggest that curcumin attenuates BaP -induced lung injury, probably through inhibiting inflammation, oxidative stress and apoptosis in lung epithelial cells, and improving cell proliferation and antioxidants level. Thus, curcumin may be an alternative therapy for improving the outcomes of Benzo(a)pyrene-induced lung injury.

Curcumin, a traditional spice component, can hold the promise against COVID-19?

“…Regulations of coronavirus-infection-associated responses by curcumin is also suggested ( Chen et al, 2020 ). Moreover, curcumin has been shown to modulate various pathophysiological consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection ( Akinyemi et al, 2015 ; Almatroodi et al, 2020 ; Dai et al, 2018 ; Hongtao et al, 2018 ; Kunnumakkara et al, 2017 ; Pang et al, 2015 ; Praditya et al, 2019 ; Titto et al, 2020 ; Vishvakarma, 2014 ). Nevertheless, the entry of SARS-CoV-2 into host cells is also predicted to be hindered by curcumin through direct interaction with viral ligands/target cell receptors ( Kandeel and Al-Nazawi, 2020 ; Maurya et al, 2020 ).…”

In Vivo Anti-Inflammatory Potential of Viscozyme®-Treated Jujube Fruit

“…Histological observation of lungs indicated that supplementation with HJE or NHJE at a high dose (1.5 g/kg BW) attenuated B(a)P-induced lung injury ( Figure 3 C). In addition, H&E-stained lung tissue sections displayed that B(a)P treatment caused disruption of lung architecture [ 36 , 37 , 38 ], including poor arrangement of epithelial cells lining bronchiole and abnormal morphology of alveolar structure (inflated alveolar sacs and thickened or ruptured interalveolar septa). However, the severity of B(a)P-induced histological damage in the lungs was reduced in mice supplemented with HJE or NHJE-H ( Figure 3 D).…”

Versatile role of curcumin and its derivatives in lung cancer therapy

“…Curcumin is capable of suppressing the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and this capability results from conjugated double bonds (Chikara et al, 2018). The extensive application of curcumin is because of its excellent pharmacological activities including antioxidant (Almatroodi et al, 2020; Mirzaei et al, 2018), anti‐inflammatory (J. Xu, Jia, Chen, & Wang, 2020), antitumor (Hesari et al, 2019; Salehi et al, 2020; Shabaninejad et al, 2020), neuroprotective (J. Wang, 2020), antimicrobial (Pourhajibagher, Partoazar, Alaeddini, Etemad‐Moghadam, & Bahador, 2020), lipid‐modifier (Zhai et al, 2020), antianalgesic (Bulboaca, Bolboaca, Stanescu, Sfrangeu, & Bulboaca, 2017), hepatoprotective (Y. Lu, Wu, Xiang, Li, & Lin, 2020), cardioprotective (Ahmed, Khan, & Mirzaei, 2019; Y. Chen et al, 2020; Hallajzadeh et al, 2019), and osteoprotective (C. Yang et al, 2020). Curcumin has demonstrated great efficacy in the treatment of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).…”