Romanian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences
 

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EFFECTS OF CURCUMIN ON INHIBITING THE PROLIFERATION OF PULMONARY ARTERY SMOOTH MUSCLE CELLS AND RELIEVING PULMONARY ARTERIAL HYPERTENSION

YUNHUI GUO 1, BAIZHU AN 2, ZHIFANG LANG 3, FUBO ZHOU 4*, XINHUA ZHANG 5, HUAILIANG WANG 5

1.Department of Pharmacology, College of Jiamusi, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Jiamusi 154007, China
2.Department of Anatomy, Mudanjiang Medical University, Mudanjiang 157011, China
3.Department of Medical Function, Mudanjiang Medical University, Mudanjiang 157011, China
4.Department of Pharmacology, Mudanjiang Medical University, Mudanjiang 157011, Heilongjiang Province, China
5.Department of Clinical Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, China Medical University, Shenyang, 110122, Liaoning Province, China

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The aim of this study was to explore the protective effect of curcumin on pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). A total of 30 male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into the blank control group, the monocrotaline (MCT) group, and the MCT + curcumin group. Thirty days after PAH modelling, the pulmonary artery pressures of rats were measured, and the ratio of the right ventricle to the weight of rats was calculated. The rats were sacrificed and lung tissues were collected for the pathological evaluation with haematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining in order to observe the morphological changes and differences of pulmonary arteries. After treatment with different concentrations (0, 5, 10, and 20 μmol/L) of curcumin for 24 h, the inhibition of cell proliferation was detected, and the cell cycle variations of pulmonary smooth muscle were observed. Our results showed that curcumin could effectively reduce the pulmonary artery pressure and the ratio of right ventricle/weight in rats, as well as alleviating the thickening of vessel walls of pulmonary arteries and the narrowing of vessels cavities. Consequently, the proliferation of cells was significantly inhibited. In conclusion, curcumin may protect the pulmonary arteries of MCT-induced PHA in rats and inhibit the proliferation of rat pulmonary artery smooth muscle.