Citation

Qiu P, Man S, Li J, Liu J, Zhang L, Yu P, Gao W. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2016; 64(13): 2765-2771.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, American Chemical Society)

DOI

10.1021/acs.jafc.6b00053

PMID

26978516

Abstract

Curcumin is the major active component of turmeric and widely used as spice and coloring agent in food. However, its safety evaluation has been few investigated. To evaluate the 90-day subchronic toxicity of curcumin in rats, its general observation, clinical biochemistry, pathology and metabolomics were evaluated. The results showed that curcumin induced liver injury through the generation of the over-expression of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and pro-inflammatory cytokines IL6, and the decrease of the levels of antioxidant enzyme SOD and detoxified enzyme GST. Meanwhile, as the self-protection of rats, curcumin treatment activated the transcription of Nrf2 and elevated the expression of HO-1 to reduce tissues damage. What's more, curcumin significantly increased key mRNA levels of HK2, PKM2, LDHA, CES, Cpt1, Cpt2, FASN, and ATP5b, and decreased levels of GLUT2 and ACC1 to enhance glycolysis and inhibit lipid metabolism and TCA cycle. Therefore, overdose or long-term taking curcumin could initiate the unbalanced state of bodies through oxidative stress, inflammation and metabolic disorders, which induces liver injury. It's necessary for intermittent administration of curcumin in our daily life.

Language: en