Natural products—friends or foes?

Margină, Denisa; Ilie, Mihaela; Grădinaru, Daniela; Androutsopoulos, Vasilis P.; Kouretas, Demetrios; Tsatsakis, Aristidis

doi:10.1016/j.toxlet.2015.05.009

Cited by 61 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 160 publications

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“…Given the proven therapeutic effect and reliable safety profile of curcumin, concerns still exist regarding its poor bioavailability, fast elimination (Margină et al ., 2015) and time points for curcumin administration in clinical setting. Most studies were performed on cancer patients, so that the long-term effect of curcumin administration will have to be assessed in patients with degenerative disc disease.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Curcumin alleviates lumbar radiculopathy by reducing neuroinflammation, oxidative stress and nociceptive factors

Xiao¹,

Ding²,

Fernandez³

et al. 2017

eCM

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Current non-surgical treatments for lumbar radiculopathy [e.g. epidural steroids and Tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) antagonists] are neither effective nor safe. As a non-toxic natural product, curcumin possesses an exceptional anti-inflammatory profile. We hypothesised that curcumin alleviates lumbar radiculopathy by attenuating neuroinflammation, oxidative stress and nociceptive factors. In a dorsal root ganglion (DRG) culture, curcumin effectively inhibited TNF-α-induced neuroinflammation, in a dose-dependent manner, as shown by mRNA and protein expression of IL-6 and COX-2. Such effects might be mediated via protein kinase B (AKT) and extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK) pathways. Also, a similar effect in combating TNF-α-induced neuroinflammation was observed in isolated primary neurons. In addition, curcumin protected neurons from TNF-α-triggered excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and cellular apoptosis and, accordingly, promoted mRNA expression of the anti-oxidative enzymes haem oxygenase-1, catalase and superoxide dismutase-2. Intriguingly, electronic von Frey test suggested that intraperitoneal injection of curcumin significantly abolished ipsilateral hyperalgesia secondary to disc herniation in mice, for up to 2 weeks post-surgery. Such in vivo pain alleviation could be attributed to the suppression, observed in DRG explant culture, of TNF-α-elicited neuropeptides, such as substance P and calcitonin gene-related peptide. Surprisingly, micro-computed tomography (µCT) data suggested that curcumin treatment could promote disc height recovery following disc herniation. Alcian blue/picrosirius red staining confirmed that systemic curcumin administration promoted regeneration of extracellular matrix proteins, visualised by presence of abundant newly-formed collagen and proteoglycan content in herniated disc. Our study provided pre-clinical evidence for expediting this natural, non-toxic pleiotropic agent to become a new and safe clinical treatment of radiculopathy.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Curcumin alleviates lumbar radiculopathy by reducing neuroinflammation, oxidative stress and nociceptive factors

Xiao¹,

Ding²,

Fernandez³

et al. 2017

eCM

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“…Thermal treatments such as drying (70 °C, 30 min) or boiling (5 min) during cooking could decrease dose of safrole to a safer level [272]. Besides, several compounds with anti-platelet effects from garlic, black cumin, ginger, fenugreek and turmeric might lead to excess bleeding in patients with bone marrow suppression [273,274,275]. …”

Section: Side Effects Of Active Compounds From Spicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spices for Prevention and Treatment of Cancers

et al. 2016

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Spices have been widely used as food flavorings and folk medicines for thousands of years. Numerous studies have documented the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects of spices, which might be related to prevention and treatment of several cancers, including lung, liver, breast, stomach, colorectum, cervix, and prostate cancers. Several spices are potential sources for prevention and treatment of cancers, such as Curcuma longa (tumeric), Nigella sativa (black cumin), Zingiber officinale (ginger), Allium sativum (garlic), Crocus sativus (saffron), Piper nigrum (black pepper) and Capsicum annum (chili pepper), which contained several important bioactive compounds, such as curcumin, thymoquinone, piperine and capsaicin. The main mechanisms of action include inducing apoptosis, inhibiting proliferation, migration and invasion of tumors, and sensitizing tumors to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. This review summarized recent studies on some spices for prevention and treatment of cancers, and special attention was paid to bioactive components and mechanisms of action.

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“…8,9 Flavonoids may inhibit membrane transporters, cytochrome (CYP) P450 enzymes, and P-glycoprotein. 10 Warfarin is extensively metabolized by hepatic cytochrome P450 microsomal enzymes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%