curcumin and Muscular-Atrophy--Spinal

Curcumin is widely consumed in Asia either as turmeric directly or as one of the culinary ingredients in food recipes. The benefits of curcumin in different organ systems have been reported extensively in several neurological diseases and cancer. Curcumin has got its global recognition because of its strong antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and antimicrobial activities. Additionally, it is used in diabetes and arthritis as well as in hepatic, renal, and cardiovascular diseases. Recently, there is growing attention on usage of curcumin to prevent or delay the onset of neurodegenerative diseases. This review summarizes available data from several recent studies on curcumin in various neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Huntington's disease, Prions disease, stroke, Down's syndrome, autism, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, anxiety, depression, and aging. Recent advancements toward increasing the therapeutic efficacy of curcuma/curcumin formulation and the novel delivery strategies employed to overcome its minimal bioavailability and toxicity studies have also been discussed. This review also summarizes the ongoing clinical trials on curcumin for different neurodegenerative diseases and patent details of curcuma/curcumin in India.

Topics: Alzheimer Disease; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis; Animals; Anxiety; Autistic Disorder; Biological Availability; Curcuma; Curcumin; Dementia; Depression; Drug Delivery Systems; Glioma; Humans; Huntington Disease; Multiple Sclerosis; Muscular Atrophy, Spinal; Neuroprotective Agents; Parkinson Disease; Patents as Topic; Prion Diseases; Stroke

Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disease with progressive muscle weakness and atrophy. SMA is caused by low levels of the Survival of Motor Neuron (SMN) protein, which also leads to neurite outgrowth defects in neuronal cells. Rescue of the outgrowth defect is thought to be a strategy for SMA treatment. Polyphenolic histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors might be good candidates due to their neuritogenic properties. In the present study, it was investigated whether neurite outgrowth defects could be rescued by curcumin and resveratrol, which are SMN-inducing polyphenols, having HDAC inhibition activity. According to our results, although curcumin and resveratrol failed to restore the neurite outgrowth defects, the SMN protein was found to be necessary for the neurite-promoting activity of curcumin in neuron-like PC12 cells.

Topics: Animals; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; Curcumin; Motor Neurons; Muscular Atrophy, Spinal; Neurites; PC12 Cells; Rats; Resveratrol; Stilbenes

Oxidative damage plays a critical role in many neurodegenerative diseases. Astrocytes are involved in supporting the survival and protection of neurons against oxidative damage. The dysfunction of antioxidant in astrocytes has been implicated in a variety of neurodegenerative disorders, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), spinalmuscularatrophy (SMA). The loss of motor neuron in spinal cord has been attributed to deterioration of astrocytes. The activation of antioxidantive function in astrocytes may serve as a therapeutic strategy for neurodegenerative diseases. Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is a master transcriptional regulator of phase II antioxidantive genes. We report herein that curcumin significantly activates Nrf2 target genes in primary spinal cord astrocytes, decreases the level of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), and attenuates oxidative damage and mitochondrial dysfunction.

Topics: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis; Animals; Antioxidants; Astrocytes; Curcuma; Curcumin; Gene Expression; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred Strains; Mitochondria; Muscular Atrophy, Spinal; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Neuroprotective Agents; NF-E2-Related Factor 2; Oxidative Stress; Phytotherapy; Plant Extracts; Reactive Oxygen Species; Signal Transduction; Spinal Cord

Motor neuron degeneration resulting from the aggregation of the androgen receptor with an expanded polyglutamine tract (AR-polyQ) has been linked to the development of spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA or Kennedy disease). Here we report that adding 5-hydroxy-1,7-bis(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-1,4,6-heptatrien-3-one (ASC-J9) disrupts the interaction between AR and its coregulators, and also increases cell survival by decreasing AR-polyQ nuclear aggregation and increasing AR-polyQ degradation in cultured cells. Intraperitoneal injection of ASC-J9 into AR-polyQ transgenic SBMA mice markedly improved disease symptoms, as seen by a reduction in muscular atrophy. Notably, unlike previous approaches in which surgical or chemical castration was used to reduce SBMA symptoms, ASC-J9 treatment ameliorated SBMA symptoms by decreasing AR-97Q aggregation and increasing VEGF164 expression with little change of serum testosterone. Moreover, mice treated with ASC-J9 retained normal sexual function and fertility. Collectively, our results point to a better therapeutic and preventative approach to treating SBMA, by disrupting the interaction between AR and AR coregulators.

Topics: Androgen Receptor Antagonists; Animals; Cell Line; Chlorocebus aethiops; COS Cells; Curcumin; Disease Models, Animal; Female; Male; Mice; Mice, Transgenic; Muscular Atrophy, Spinal; Phenotype; Receptors, Androgen