Curcumin Attenuated Neurotoxicity in Sporadic Animal Model of Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases leading to dementia. Despite research efforts, currently there are no effective pharmacotherapeutic options for the prevention and treatment of AD. Recently, numerous studies highlighted the beneficial effects of curcumin (CUR), a natural polyphenol, in the neuroprotection. Especially, its dual antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties attracted the interest of researchers. In fact, besides its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, this biomolecule is not degraded in the intestinal tract. Additionally, CUR is able to cross the blood–brain barrier and could therefore to be used to treat neurodegenerative pathologies associated with oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis. The present study aimed to assess the ability of CUR to induce neuronal protective and/or recovery effects on a rat model of neurotoxicity induced by aluminum chloride (AlCl3), which mimics the sporadic form of Alzheimer’s disease. Our results showed that treatment with CUR enhances pro-oxidant levels, antioxidant enzymes activities and anti-inflammatory cytokine production and decreases apoptotic cells in AlCl3-exposed hippocampus rats. Additionally, histopathological analysis of hippocampus revealed the potential of CUR in decreasing the hallmarks in the AlCl3-induced AD. We also showed that CUR post-treatment significantly improved the behavioral, oxidative stress and inflammation in AlCl3-exposed rats. Taken together, our data presented CUR as a nutraceutical potential through its protective effects that are more interesting than recovery ones in sporadic model of AD.

Protective Effect of Natural Antioxidant, Curcumin Nanoparticles, and Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles against Type 2 Diabetes-Promoted Hippocampal Neurotoxicity in Rats

“…Curcumin is one of the natural phytochemicals in turmeric and is a potent anti-amyloidogenic agent which has been found to effectively disaggregate Aβ species directly, which in turn hinders the formation of fibrils and oligomers and improves cognitive performance [20,21]. In addition, curcumin attenuated the oxidative stress in a streptozotocin (STZ)-induced model by enhancing reduced glutathione (GSH) content and reducing the acetylcholinesterase activity in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex [22,23]. Previous studies showed that curcumin increased lifespan and decreased amyloid neurotoxicity in an invertebrate model [24,25].…”

Dual Mechanism of Action of Curcumin in Experimental Models of Multiple Sclerosis

“…Current approved therapies against MS reduce relapse rates, but they do not promote myelin repair nor do they prevent or reverse disease progression. Since we showed that curcumin treatment promotes neuroprotection in animal models [ 23 , 24 ], we considered that curcumin treatment may promote neuroprotection in MS animal models, which could be regulated by several mechanisms. In fact, in the present study, curcumin demonstrated a dual mechanism of action: (i) an immunomodulatory effect, through an anti-inflammatory effect in reactive astrocytes and the inhibition of immune cells’ infiltration into the spinal cord, and (ii) an ameliorating effect of myelination through the elevation of MBP expression in the brain.…”

“…In this context, curcumin (Cur), from Curcuma longa [ 20 ], was reported to have multiple advantageous effects, including antioxidant [ 21 ] and anti-inflammatory ones [ 22 ]. In addition, the efficiency of Cur against several inflammatory diseases such as neurodegenerative diseases [ 23 , 24 ] and cancer [ 25 ] has been highlighted in previous studies. In the present work, we investigated the potential therapeutic effect of curcumin on autoimmune (EAE) and toxic (cuprizone) animal models of MS, as well as on an inflamed astrocyte cell line culture.…”

Oxidative stress-mediated memory impairment during aging and its therapeutic intervention by natural bioactive compounds

“…Supplementation of curcumin significantly decreased MDA level and increased the activity of SOD and catalase enzyme in the hippocampus of AD rats. Further, curcumin attenuated the neurodegeneration and decline of recognition memory in the AlCl 3 -treated AD rats ( ELBini-Dhouib et al, 2021 ; Table 2 ).…”