Pharmacological and clinical properties of curcumin

Abstract

The polyphenol natural product curcumin has been the subject of numerous studies over the past decades, which have identified and characterized the compound's pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, and clinical pharmacological properties. In in vitro and in vivo model systems, curcumin displays potent pharmacological effects, by targeting many critical cellular factors, through a diverse array of mechanisms of action. Despite this tremendous molecular versatility, however, the clinical application of curcumin remains limited due to poor pharmacokinetic characteristics in human beings. The current trend is to develop and utilize unique delivery systems, chemical derivatives, and chemical analogs to circumvent these pharmacological obstacles, in order to optimize the conditions for curcumin as a chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic agent in diseases such as cancer, diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer's disease, and inflammatory disorders. The present work seeks to review recent studies in the basic pharmacological principles and potential clinical applications of curcumin.

Nanocurcumin: A Promising Candidate for Therapeutic Applications

“…In the recent three decades, researchers have worked on curcumin for its various functional and biological features viz., anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-mutagenic, antimicrobial activity, anti-tumoral, wound healing, and antiangiogenesis effects (Mahady et al, 2002;Aggarwal and Harikumar, 2009;Akbik et al, 2014;Hu et al, 2015;Fernańdez-Bedmar and Alonso-Moraga, 2016;Da Silva et al, 2018;Imran et al, 2018;Willenbacher et al, 2019). Existing research data provide evidence to support the curcumin's beneficial effects on different human diseases including cancer (Adiwidjaja et al, 2017), diabetes (Shome et al, 2016), lung and chronic kidney diseases (Gupta et al, 2013;Trujillo et al, 2013), neurological disorders (Aggarwal and Sung, 2009), metabolic disease (Panahi et al, 2016), liver problems (Nabavi et al, 2014), cardiovascular disease (Bhullar et al, 2013), digestive disorders (Debjit Bhowmik et al, 2009), and other inflammatory diseases (Beevers and Huang, 2011). Despite its reported benefits, multiple factors often limit the practical applications of curcumin.…”

Neuroprotective Agents in the Intensive Care Unit

“…Curcumin is a hydrophobic product with poor oral absorption and bioavailability. Commercial curcumin known as curcuminoids is composed of curcumin, demethoxycurcumin and bisdemethoxycurcumin [ 174 ]. Curcumin has two keto and enol tautomeric forms that affect the stability of the molecule [ 175 ].…”

Curcumin effect on non-amyloidogenic pathway for preventing Alzheimer’s disease

“…Curcumin is an insoluble water and soluble oil agent [8]. Curcumin is a safe and well-tolerated compound [9]. The bioavailability of curcumin is affected by low solubility, poor absorption, rapid metabolism and elimination [9].…”

“…Curcumin is a safe and well-tolerated compound [9]. The bioavailability of curcumin is affected by low solubility, poor absorption, rapid metabolism and elimination [9]. Therefore, several investigations have been performed to increase curcumin bioavailability.…”