Abstract
Curcumin, a hydrophobic polyphenol isolated from the Curcuma longa L. plant, has many pharmacological properties, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and chemo-preventive activities. Curcumin has been shown to have potential in preventing nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, the low bioavailability of curcumin has proven to be a major limiting factor in its clinical adoption. Theracurmin, a highly bioavailable curcumin that utilizes micronized technology showed improved biological absorbability in vivo. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of theracurmin in modulating hepatic lipid metabolism in vivo. A fatty liver mouse model was produced by feeding mice a high fat diet (HFD; 60% fat) for 12 weeks. We found that treatment for 12 weeks with theracurmin significantly lowered plasma triacylglycerol (TG) levels and reduced HFD-induced liver fat accumulation. Theracurmin treatment lowered hepatic TG and total cholesterol (T-CHO) levels in HFD-fed mice compared to controls. In addition, theracurmin administration significantly reduced lipid peroxidation and cellular damage caused by reactive oxygen species in HFD-fed mice. Overall, these results suggest that theracurmin has the ability to control lipid metabolism and can potentially serve as an effective therapeutic remedy for the prevention of fatty liver.
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Abbreviations
- ACAT:
-
acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase
- GSH:
-
glutathione
- HDL:
-
high-density lipoprotein
- H&E:
-
hematoxylin and eosin
- HFD:
-
high fat diet
- HMG-CoA:
-
3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA
- LDL:
-
low-density lipoprotein
- MDA:
-
malondialdehyde
- NAFLD:
-
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
- NASH:
-
nonalcoholic steatohepatitis
- ND:
-
normal diet
- Nrf2:
-
nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor-2
- ROS:
-
reactive oxygen species
- SREBPs:
-
sterol regulatory elementbinding proteins
- TBA:
-
thiobarbituric acid
- T-CHO:
-
Total cholesterol
- TG:
-
triacylglycerol
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This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Yang, J.W., Yeo, H.K., Yun, J.H. et al. Theracurmin (Highly Bioavailable Curcumin) Prevents High Fat Diet-Induced Hepatic Steatosis Development in Mice. Toxicol Res. 35, 403–410 (2019). https://doi.org/10.5487/TR.2019.35.4.403
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5487/TR.2019.35.4.403