Romanian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences

« Back to Farmacia Journal 6/2019

THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS OF CURCUMIN ON MOUSE VENTRICULAR REMODELLING

GUANGNAN LI 1, YANKUN HAO 2, SHUANG LI 2, HONGGUANG LU 3, FUBO ZHOU 4*

1.Department of Cardiology, The Fourth Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
2.Department of Medical Function, Mudanjiang Medical University, Mudanjiang, China
3.Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, The Fourth Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, China
4.Department of Pharmacology, Mudanjiang Medical University, Mudanjiang, China

Download Full Article PDF

This study aimed to investigate the protective effect of curcumin in ventricular remodelling in a mice model of myocardial infarction. 100 male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into a sham group, a model group and a curcumin group (32 mice per group, 4 mice died during the study). The dynamic protein expression of iNOS (inducible nitric oxide synthase), TLR4 (toll-like receptor 4) and p-IKKα/β (inhibitor of nuclear factor kappa-B kinase) were determined by Western blot and real-time quantitative PCR (RT-PCR). The results showed that after myocardial infarction, the colour of the myocardium was significantly darker than before, and the fibrosis area increased. The protein levels of TLR4 mRNA, TLR4, and iNOS in the mouse myocardial tissues were significantly increased compared to the sham group (p < 0.05) associated with a significant increase in inflammatory markers. After curcumin treatment, myocardial morphology recovered and the fibrotic area decreased. The expression level of inflammatory markers in the curcumin group was lower than that in the myocardial infarction group (p < 0.05). In conclusion, it was shown that curcumin has an immunomodulatory effect that significantly improves cardiac function after myocardial infarction.