Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Curcumin exhibits therapeutic effect against spinal cord injury via inhibition of neuronal inflammation and apoptosis

Wei Xiao¹, Xuewu Chen², Yijun Wang², Jianzhong Chang¹, Zufa Zhao¹, Guangjie Pan²

¹Department of Orthopaedic, China Resources & Wisco General Hospital, Wuhan, Hubei 430080; ²Department of Orthopaedic, Wenzhou Central Hospital, Wenzhou, Zhejiang 325000, China.

For correspondence:- Guangjie Pan Email: JoshuaKhankyw@yahoo.com

Accepted: 26 August 2019 Published: 30 September 2019

Citation: Xiao W, Chen X, Wang Y, Chang J, Zhao Z, Pan G. Curcumin exhibits therapeutic effect against spinal cord injury via inhibition of neuronal inflammation and apoptosis. Trop J Pharm Res 2019; 18(9):1927-1933 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v18i9.21

© 2019 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effect of curcumin on spinal cord injury (SCI) in a rat model.

Methods: SCI was induced in the rats using mid thoracic spinal cord compression, after which curcumin was injected intraperitoneally. Western blotting was used for assay of expressions of apoptotic proteins, viz, IL-1β, NF-κB p65, TLR4, TNF-α, LC3, Bax and Bcl-2. Malondialdehyde (MDA) and myeloperoxidase were measured using standard methods. Neuronal loss in spinal cord tissues was determined with TUNEL staining and NeuN labelling.

Results: Curcumin treatment significantly (p < 0.05) suppressed SCI-mediated upregulation of myeloperoxidase activity and increase in MDA level in rat spinal cord. The reduction of glutathione (GSH) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities in the spinal cord of SCI rats were suppressed by curcumin treatment. Curcumin treatment also led to a significant (p < 0.02) increase in the proportion of NeuN positive cells and marked reduction in TUNEL positive cells, but it decreased caspase-3 in the spinal cord tissues of SCI rats. Moreover, curcumin reversed the effect of SCI on protein expressions of Bax and Bcl 2 in a dose-based manner. There was marked curcumin-induced decline in CD11b and GFAP levels in the spinal cord tissues of the SCI rats.

Conclusion: These results demonstrate that curcumin protects rats against SCI via inhibition of oxidative stress-mediated neuronal apoptosis. Therefore, curcumin may be useful for the development of an effective treatment for spinal cord injury.

Keywords: Curcumin, Spinal cord injury, Neuro-protective effect, Inflammatory cytokines