Curcumin prevents and/or delays diabetic complications associated with brain. - GreenMedInfo Summary
Role of curcumin in the prevention of cholinergic mediated cortical dysfunctions in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.
J Agric Food Chem. 2008 Nov 12;56(21):9905-10. Epub 2008 Oct 2. PMID: 20637830
Molecular Neurobiology and Cell Biology Unit, Centre for Neuroscience, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin 682022, Kerala, India.
Diabetes exacerbates neuronal injury mediated through neurotransmitters deregulation in cerebral cortex. Our study analyzed the neuroprotective effect of curcumin to prevent cortical dysfunction associated with diabetes. Our study revealed decreased gene expression of muscarinic M1, insulin receptor, SOD, choline acetyl transferase and increased gene expression of muscarinic M3,α7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, acetylcholine esterase and GLUT3 in cerebral cortex of diabetic rats. Curcumin and insulin treatment reversed this altered parameters to near control. Immunohistochemistry studies of muscarinic M1 and M3 confirmed the gene expression at protein level. Decreasednovel arm entry of diabetic rats in Y-maze test, improved in treatment group. These results suggest that cholinergic dysfunction, impaired glucose transport and oxidative stress contributes to learning and memory deficits in diabetes and further suggest that antioxidant curcumin has potential therapeutic role in preventing and/or delaying the diabetic complications associated with brain.