Turmeric is a commonly used Chinese medicine, and its main bioactive components are curcumin and volatile oil. The former has the functions of lowering blood lipid, anticoagulation, antioxidation, cholagogic and anticancer. The latter mainly plays an anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antitussive role. Curcumin plays an anti-cancer role by inducing malignant tumor cell differentiation, inducing tumor cell apoptosis and inhibiting tumor growth at all stages, which is widely used in clinic. [6]
Cholagogic: This product or its sodium salt has cholagogic effect. Intravenous injection can reduce the content of all solid components and increase bile secretion. However, during the whole bile secretion cycle, the absolute total excretion of bile salts, bilirubin and cholesterol increased, and the fatty acid composition remained unchanged.
2. Antibacterial: It has a strong antibacterial effect on Staphylococcus aureus.
3. Oral administration of 5 ~ 20 mg/kg can inhibit the gastric damage caused by intramuscular injection of 20mg/kg5- hydroxytryptamine in guinea pigs. It has protective effect on liver injury caused by paracetamol. [4]
4, reducing blood fat, anti-oxidation, anti-inflammation, anti-atherosclerosis, etc.
5. In 2004, curcumin was found to inhibit the activity of HIV- 1 integrase, and was used in clinical trials of AIDS.
6. Anti-cancer is one of the main pharmacological activities of curcumin, and its anti-tumor effect has been repeatedly confirmed in many animal experiments, and its specific anti-cancer mechanism has become a research hotspot.
7. In 2006, researchers from the National University of Singapore found that curcumin in curry has antioxidant effect, which can inhibit the formation of amyloid plaques in the brain, thus reducing the risk of Alzheimer's disease. This may explain why the incidence of Alzheimer's disease in India is lower than that in the west. [7]
From August 438, 1965 to August 2002, researchers at George Mei Sen University found that curcumin is a broad-spectrum inhibitor, which can prevent a series of viruses from infecting healthy cells. [8]
9. Effects of curcumin on proliferation, cell cycle regulation and apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Methods MTT assay was used to determine the inhibitory effect of curcumin on QGY at different concentrations and time, flow cytometry was used to analyze the cell cycle distribution, and transmission electron microscope was used to observe the changes of cell ultrastructure. Results Curcumin can inhibit the growth of QGY cells, and the inhibition rate is related to the drug concentration and action time. The IC50 of 72 h was 49.50 μ mol/L. Flow cytometry analysis confirmed that curcumin could accumulate QGY cells in S phase, and electron microscope observation showed that curcumin could lead to cell degeneration, necrosis and apoptosis. [9]
10. To explore the anti-tumor mechanism of curcumin. Methods The chick chorioallantoic membrane model was used to observe the effect of curcumin on angiogenesis. The apoptosis of SMMC-772 1 was observed by electron microscope and flow cytometry. Results Curcumin can obviously inhibit the angiogenesis of chick chorioallantoic membrane, and 20 μ mol L-1curcumin can induce SMMC-772 1 cell apoptosis. [668
be anticancer
Curcumin is a kind of plant polyphenol extracted from turmeric, and it is also the most important active ingredient in turmeric. Recent studies have not only proved the traditional functions of turmeric, but also revealed some new pharmacological effects, such as anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidation, scavenging oxygen free radicals, anti-human immunodeficiency virus, protecting liver and kidney, anti-fibrosis and cancer prevention, which may be related to its inhibition of the activation and expression of transcription factors such as nuclear factor -κB and activator protein-1.
Curry is rich in content and works well with chemotherapy.
Curcumin, which is rich in curry, has been found to have adjuvant chemotherapy and anti-prostate cancer cells. Pu, an attending physician in urology department of National Taiwan University Hospital, found that curcumin can break the firewall of cancer cells and help chemical drugs drive cancer cells directly.
Pu has long studied the treatment of prostate cancer and bladder cancer, and his research and teaching achievements have been deeply affirmed. He was awarded the Green Apricot Award by National Taiwan University School of Medicine. One of Pu's latest studies is to use curcumin to assist chemotherapy of prostate cancer.
Pu Xiaoyong said that when prostate cancer has not metastasized, it will generally be treated by surgery or electrotherapy; Metastatic prostate cancer is treated with hormone, but this treatment will fail in an average of one to one and a half years. Many patients turn to chemotherapy after failure, but the effect is limited. Generally speaking, chemotherapy can only relieve symptoms, and there is no evidence that it can prolong life. Patients will die in an average of three months.
Curcumin and chemicals are used to treat prostate cancer cell lines. It was found that if only chemical drugs were used, the death of cancer cell lines was limited, but if curcumin was added, there would be an additive effect of "one plus one is greater than two". Pu Xiaoyong said that curcumin is a strong antioxidant, and its own biochemical and physiological characteristics are unique, which can prevent cancer cells from escaping. He explained that when chemical drugs want to kill cancer cells, cancer cells will build a defense wall, making the drugs unable to play their role, but curcumin can destroy this firewall and greatly increase the curative effect.
Although this study is only a preliminary result in the laboratory, Pu Xiao Yong thinks curcumin is easy to obtain. If further clinical trials prove effective for patients, it will be a major breakthrough in treatment.
Antitumor activity
Five fluorine-containing monocarbonyl curcumin analogues were synthesized from fluorobenzaldehyde and ketone by active group splicing method. Its structure was confirmed by IR, ~ 65438+1h NMR and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. The results show that some of these compounds have strong selective inhibitory activity on tumor cells, among which 2,6-bis (4- fluorophenyl) cyclohexanone (3a) has good anti-tumor activity. 6- bis (2- fluorophenyl) cyclohexanone (3b) has broad-spectrum antitumor activity. In this regard, compound 3b was cultured in a single crystal, and its crystal structure was analyzed by X-ray diffraction. The structure shows that compound 3b belongs to triclinic system, and its space group is P- 1. The cell parameters A = 0.9222 (2) nm and B = 0.9732. α = 88.920 (4)，β = 75.672 (3)，γ = 62.404 (3)，V = 0.7755 (3) nm ~ 3，Z = 2，D _ C = 1.329mg·m ~(。
senile dementia
Animal experiments at Duke University in the United States show that curcumin in curry can not only decompose amyloid in the brains of experimental mice, but also prevent the production of protein. Researchers point out that eating curry frequently may have similar effects on people, thus helping to prevent Alzheimer's disease.
Many studies have proved that the accumulation of amyloid in the brain is one of the most important causes of Alzheimer's disease. Previous studies have shown that curcumin, a key ingredient in curry, can prevent brain nerve cell damage and improve brain nerve cell function.
According to American media reports, researchers at Duke University in the United States have genetically modified experimental mice, so that many amyloid proteins appear in their brains. The researchers then provided these experimental mice with food rich in curcumin, and found that the amyloid protein in the brains of experimental mice was decomposed, and the same diet could also prevent the amyloid protein from appearing in the adult brains of experimental mice.
The researchers pointed out that their next step will be to determine the effect of curcumin on amyloid plaques in the human brain. In addition, they will also study the effect of eating a lot of curry to determine whether such eating habits can maximize the efficacy of curcumin.
The researchers also hope that in the future, based on these studies, a drug with curcumin as the main component will be developed to treat Alzheimer's Harmo's disease, which will achieve better curative effect than eating curry.