Curcumin and neurological diseases

ABSTRACT

Objectives: The beneficial effects of many substances have been discovered because of regular dietary consumption. This is also the case with curcumin, whose effects have been known for more than 4,000 years in Eastern countries such as China and India. A curcumin-rich diet has been known to counteract many human diseases, including cancer and diabetes, and has been shown to reduce inflammation. The effect of a curcumin treatment for neurological diseases, such as spinal muscular atrophy; Alzheimer’s disease; Parkinson’s disease; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; multiple sclerosis; and others, has only recently been brought to the attention of researchers and the wider population.

Methods: In this paper, we summarise the studies on this natural product, from its isolation two centuries ago to its characterisation a century later.

Results: We describe its role in the treatment of neurological diseases, including its cellular and common molecular mechanisms, and we report on the clinical trials of curcumin with healthy people and patients.

Discussion: Commenting on the different approaches adopted by the efforts made to increase its bioavailability.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Curcumin
• spinal muscular atrophy
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Parkinson’s disease
• amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• multiple sclerosis
• epilepsy
• spinal cord injury

Acknowledgements

The editing of the manuscript was performed by Damian Randle’s proofreading editorial service (http://englishedituk.co.uk) and International Research Promotion, 14 Hanover Street, Mayfair, London W1S 1YH (http://cert.researchpromotion.com/media/documents/IRP-2020-ELES-26566.pdf). Graphical abstract and Figures 1, 2 and 3 were created with BioRender.com. The authors would like to thank: Asamsi ONLUS, via Prosciutta, 23–48018 Faenza (BD), Italy and Vertical Foundation, via Carlo Bernari 13, 00139 Roma (IT), Italy (BD).

DB wrote the paper. RA prepared the tables and the graphical abstract and Figures 1 and 2. DB prepared Figure 3. RA and DB revised and discussed the text figures and tables.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Raffaella Adami

Raffaella Adami holds a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology and a Biology degree. She has been involved in cytoskeletal structure and function studies in muscles and neuronal cells as a postdoctoral researcher in Ferrara, Bordeaux, and Pavia Universities. Since 2005, she has worked at Milano University, where she is charge of the confocal microscopy section and collaborates with several research laboratories, particularly focusing on adult neurogenesis and neuronal diseases.

Daniele Bottai

Daniele Bottai obtained his Ph.D. in Basic Neuroscience at the University of Pisa in 1994. He performed his postdoctoral training at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and at the Max Planck Institute of Heidelberg. Now, he is an Assistant Professor at the University of Milan. His main interest is the study the characteristics of adult stem cells, with a particular focus on neural, amniotic and dental stem cells, in treating human pathologies. Recently, he started to study the roles of physical activity in the maintenance of neurogenesis to assess the appropriate approaches (also nutritional) to balance the detrimental effect of reduced gravity on neurogenic areas of animal models.