Therapeutic Applications of Curcumin Nanomedicine Formulations in Cardiovascular Diseases

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) compromises a group of heart and blood vessels disorders with high impact on human health and wellbeing. Curcumin (CUR) have demonstrated beneficial effects on these group of diseases that represent a global burden with a prevalence that continues increasing progressively. Pre-and clinical studies have demonstrated the CUR effects in CVD through its anti-hypercholesterolemic and anti-atherosclerotic effects and its protective properties against cardiac ischemia and reperfusion. However, the CUR therapeutic limitation is its bioavailability. New CUR nanomedicine formulations are developed to solve this problem. The present article aims to discuss different studies and approaches looking into the promising role of nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems to deliver CUR and its derivatives in CVD treatment, with an emphasis on their formulation properties, experimental evidence, bioactivity, as well as challenges and opportunities in developing these systems.

Turmeric and Its Major Compound Curcumin on Health: Bioactive Effects and Safety Profiles for Food, Pharmaceutical, Biotechnological and Medicinal Applications

“…Figure 8 illustrates the mechanism of action of curcumin in CV diseases. As seen, curcumin CV benefits are mostly related to their protective effects on atherosclerosis, cardiac hypertrophy, heart failure, aortic aneurysm, stroke, myocardial infarction, and diabetic CV complications (Salehi et al, 2020b). As main molecular targets, it is noteworthy that curcumin activates the Nrf2 which leads to HO-1 induction, responsible for cytoprotective and anti-inflammatory effects against oxidative stress (Pittala et al, 2018).…”

“…Curcumin has been administered in several formulations, such as capsules, tablets, powder nanoparticles, liposomal encapsulation, and emulsions, with dose-escalating studies revealing that curcumin is safe at doses as high as 12 g/day for 3 months. Bioavailability has been the major curcumin therapeutic limitation, and to solve this problem new nanomedicine formulations have been developed to improve curcumin targeting, pharmacokinetics, efficacy, and cellular uptake (Salehi et al, 2020a;Salehi et al, 2020b). Its pleiotropic activities comprise a plethora of inflammatory diseases, such as cancer, CV disease, arthritis, atherosclerosis, diabetes, gastric disease, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, and so on.…”

Toward Regulatory Effects of Curcumin on Transforming Growth Factor-Beta Across Different Diseases: A Review

“…Curcumin, a phenolic compound, is also known as diferuloylmethane with chemical name of (1E, 6E)-1,7-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)hepta-1,6-diene-3,5-dione) ( Figure 1 ) ( Baldi et al, 2020 ; Chainoglou and Hadjipavlou-Litina, 2020 ; Salehi et al, 2020a ; Stohs et al, 2020 ). This biologically active compound occurs in high amounts in rhizome and roots of turmeric plant ( Curcuma longa ) ( Hesari et al, 2019 ).…”

Curcumin, a Multi-Ion Channel Blocker That Preferentially Blocks Late Na+ Current and Prevents I/R-Induced Arrhythmias

“…Curcumin (Cur: C 2 1 H 2 0 O 6 , MW:368.38, Figure 1A ) is a natural yellow polyphenolic substance, the main active alkaloid extracted from the rhizome of turmeric, a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the family Zingiberaceae, which has been used as an antiseptic and antipyretic folk medicine for centuries ( Kumar et al, 2017 ). Previous researches have shown that Cur has extensive pharmacological activities ( Aggarwal et al, 2007 ; Yallapu et al, 2015 ; Salehi et al, 2019 ; Salehi et al, 2020a , b ) and has been put into clinical practice with a dose range of 180–3000 mg/day ( Panahi et al, 2014 ). Increasing evidence showed that Cur has a protective effect against CVDs.…”