Curcumin reduces indomethacin‐induced damage in the rat small intestine

Abstract

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are commonly used in clinical medicine. Their utility is, however, often limited by the adverse effects they produce in the gastrointestinal tract. Oxidative stress has been shown to occur in the small intestine in response to the oral administration of indomethacin, an NSAID commonly used in toxicity studies. In view of this, the effect of curcumin, an agent with anti-oxidant properties, was evaluated on indomethacin-induced small intestinal damage in a rat model. Rats were pretreated with various doses of curcumin (20 mg kg(-1), 40 mg kg(-1) and 80 mg kg(-1)) before administering indomethacin at 20 mg kg(-1). Various parameters of oxidative stress and the extent of small intestinal damage produced by indomethacin, with and without pretreatment with curcumin, were measured. Macroscopic ulceration was found to occur in the small intestine in response to indomethacin. The viability of enterocytes from indomethacin-treated animals was significantly lower than those from control animals. Drug-induced oxidative stress was also evident as seen by increases in the levels of malondialdehyde and protein carbonyl and in activities of pro-oxidant enzymes such as myeloperoxidase and xanthine oxidase in indomethacin-treated rats. Concomitant decreases were seen in the activities of the antioxidant enzymes catalase and glutathione peroxidase in these animals. Pretreatment with curcumin was found to ameliorate these drug-induced changes. Thus, curcumin appears to hold promise as an agent that can potentially reduce NSAID-induced small intestinal damage.

Curcumin, a cancer chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic agent, is a biologically active iron chelator

“…Published studies have similarly demonstrated curcumin to be remarkably nontoxic in rodents and in humans, 9 and to exert a protective rather than damaging effect on the rodent gastrointestinal tract. 53,54 Collectively, these results demonstrate that curcumin has the potential to affect systemic iron metabolism. There are 2 important implications of these results.…”

Curcumin and the cellular stress response in free radical‐related diseases

“…Curcumin and THC reduced the kidney toxicity of chloroquine, gentamicin, and cyclosporin A in the rat [2,130,131]. Furthermore, curcumin reduced the indomethacin-induced intestinal damage in the rat and the ritonavirrelated vascular dysfunction in porcine coronary arteries [132,133]. All these reports agree that the protective effects of curcumin were due to the well-known ability of this compound to increase both the enzymatic and nonenzymatic intracellular antioxidant molecules.…”

Gastroprotective Effect of Nicorandil in Indomethacin and Alcohol-Induced Acute Ulcers

“…Pretreatment with nicorandil decreased leukocyte infiltration probably through elevated NO levels at the ulcer sites, with a concomitant significant reduction of TBARS and TNF-α, when compared to indomethacin-and alcohol-treated animals. The lower preventive index of nicorandil in ethanol, in comparison to indomethacin-induced ulcers, may be attributed to the lower ability of the drug to reduce the rise in TBARS contents at the ulcer sites [47].…”