Curcumin Treatment Improves Motor Behavior in α-Synuclein Transgenic Mice
 

Curcumin vs Nilotinib
 

While we wait, forever, for clinical trials to succeed, maybe Curcumin at about 2 grams a day could clear out a-Synclein in PD and Alzheimer's.

PLOS ONE: Curcumin Treatment Improves Motor Behavior in α-Synuclein Transgenic Mice

• Abstract

The curry spice curcumin plays a protective role in mouse models of neurodegenerative diseases, and can also directly modulate aggregation of α-synuclein protein in vitro, yet no studies have described the interaction of curcumin and α-synuclein in genetic synucleinopathy mouse models. Here we examined the effect of chronic and acute curcumin treatment in the Syn-GFP mouse line, which overexpresses wild-type human α-synuclein protein. We discovered that curcumin diet intervention significantly improved gait impairments and resulted in an increase in phosphorylated forms of α-synuclein at cortical presynaptic terminals. Acute curcumin treatment also caused an increase in phosphorylated α-synuclein in terminals, but had no direct effect on α-synuclein aggregation, as measured by in vivo multiphoton imaging and Proteinase-K digestion. Using LC-MS/MS, we detected ~5 ng/mL and ~12 ng/mL free curcumin in the plasma of chronic or acutely treated mice, with a glucuronidation rate of 94% and 97%, respectively. Despite the low plasma levels and extensive metabolism of curcumin, these results show that dietary curcumin intervention correlates with significant behavioral and molecular changes in a genetic synucleinopathy mouse model that mimics human disease.


For example, there is evidence that α-synuclein aggregates undergo nitration-based oxidative damage [36]. Curcumin is known to be a potent anti-oxidant and may be modulating α-synuclein, and ultimately motor behavior, by decreasing reactive oxygen species [11]. While further studies are needed to better understand the molecular mechanisms underlying chronic curcumin diet intervention in synucleinopathy mouse models, our data demonstrate improvements in motor behavior, providing strong support for curcumin therapy as the subject of further pre-clinical studies.

Ashleyk writes "While we wait, forever, for clinical trials to succeed, maybe Curcumin at about 2 grams a day could clear out a-Synclein in PD and Alzheimer's".

The situation with curcumin is part of the same old problem: a substance that may be a useful therapy, that is probably safe, with some data in its favour, but not enough human, clinical trial data to be definitive. It may be that whether it works will never be known because it offers insufficient profits for anyone to do a proper clinical trial.

There are dangers in taking a substance that is not properly tested. But there are also dangers, the lost benefit, the relentless progression of PD, in not taking a substance that may be efficacious. The issue is to get the balance right.

The way forward, as I see it, is to get Parkinson's experts to say, based on their theoretical knowledge, animal test results and limited human data, what unproven therapies they would take if they had PD. PwP would choose whether to take the promising therapies, taking into account their relative risks. Their response to the new potential therapies would be monitored.

The fastest response should come from Parkinson's experts who have PD. It would be useful to know what non-approved therapies they take. If they are prepared to be open about this, we could have many new potential therapies to consider within a month.

John

Michael Fox drug regimen??
 

I'd like to know what MJFs regimen is....appears as tho he has got the bradykinesia problem addressed...'' Johnny B. Goode (Live in NY w/ Michael J. Fox) - YouTube

Curcumin follow up.
 

It's been about a year since this thread on curcumin appeared. Has anyone been using curcumin and what is your opinion on its effect? Note that it is important that a bio-avaiiable form of curcumin should be used for better absorption and that the half life is in hours so twice daily dosage is needed.

Effect of curcumin analogs onα-synuclein aggregation and cytotoxicity

Curcumin prevents aggregation in α-synuclein by increasing reconfiguration rate. - PubMed - NCBI

Curcumin and its Derivatives: Their Application in Neuropharmacology and Neuroscience in the 21st Century


Supplement: Curcumin – the #1 anti-cancer spice | BisforBananasCisforCancer

Curcumin: The Spice That Can Potentially Help Your Health

I started taking Longvida Optimised Curcumin 500mg once a day. It says on the bottle that it is "high absorbtion, free form." This was just a couple of weeks ago. I started with 1 capsule a day to see if my stomach can tolerate it and so far I am ok with that. I will increase it to 2 pills a day. I don't see how it could hurt. Put another way, I am willing to risk it. Thanks for the post.

Thanks for the informative post!

India and Tumeric
 

JohnT makes valid points about curcumin and possible negative effects. And that we can't be sure of it's benefits, or not, until clinical trials are made. This is all true but who can wait years for the results on a "drug" that drug companies can't make money on?
I remember reading somewhere that in India, tumeric - curcumin is widely used by the population. And that their PD rate is 1/10 that of western countries.