Turmeric-Derived Compound Curcumin May Treat Alzheimer’s

[Bill USA]

http://cen.acs.org/articles/90/i31/Tumeric-Derived-Compound-Curcumin-Treat.html



In 2004, a group in Japan demonstrated that submicromolar concentrations of curcumin in solution could inhibit aggregation of amyloid-β and break up preformed fibrils of the stuff (J. Neurosci. Res., DOI: 10.1002/jnr.20025). Shortly after that, the UCLA team demonstrated the same (J. Biol. Chem., DOI: 10.1074/jbc.m404751200).


As an Alzheimer’s drug, however, it’s unclear how important it is that the spice compound inhibits amyloid-β aggregation, Cole says. “When you have something that’s so pleiotropic,” he adds, “it’s hard to know” which of its modes of action is most effective.

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Some researchers, such as Salk’s Schubert, are tackling curcumin’s low bioavailability by modifying the compound to improve its properties. Schubert and his group have come up with a molecule, called J147, that’s a hybrid of curcumin and cyclohexyl-bisphenol A. Like Cole and coworkers, they also came upon the compound not by initially screening for the ability to interact with amyloid-β, but by screening for the ability to alleviate age-related symptoms.


The researchers hit upon J147 by exposing cultured Alzheimer’s nerve cells to a library of compounds and then measuring changes to levels of biomarkers for oxidative stress, inflammation, and nerve growth. J147 performed well in all categories. And when given to mice engineered to accumulate amyloid-β clumps in their brains, the hybrid molecule prevented memory loss and reduced formation of amyloid plaques over time (PLoS One, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0027865).


Other researchers have tackled curcumin’s poor bioavailability by reformulating it. Both Baum and Cole have encapsulated curcumin in nanospheres coated with either polymers or lipids to protect the compound from modification after ingestion. Cole tells C&EN that by packaging the curcumin in this way, he and his group have gotten micromolar quantities of it into the bloodstream of humans. The researchers are now preparing for a small clinical trial to test the formulation on patients with mild cognitive impairment, who are at an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s.

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more on Curcumin and it's absorption from UCLA: http://alzheimer.neurology.ucla.edu/Curcumin.html