The Potential of Curcumin in Treatment of Spinal Cord Injury

Table 3

Publications examining the anti-inflammatory and fibrotic properties of curcumin. Groups equally divided unless otherwise indicated. SCI, spinal cord injury; DMSO, dimethyl sulfoxide; AQP-4, aquaporin-4; GFAP, glial fibrillary acidic protein (astrocyte marker); pJAK-STAT, phosphorylated Janus kinase-signal transducers and activators of transcription; Iba-1 (microglial marker); NF-200, neurofilament-200 (neuron marker); IL-1β, interleukin-1βN (inflammatory mediator); NO, nitric oxide (inflammatory mediator); NF-κB, nuclear factor-κB (inflammatory mediator); NeuN, neuronal nuclei (neuron marker).

Reference	Sample size	Animal type	Method of SCI	Treatment groups	Route & timing of curcumin administration	Pathological findings	Outcomes/results
Zu et al. [31]	64	Sprague-Dawley rats	Weight drop	Sham/DMSO, sham/curcumin, SCI/DMSO, and SCI/curcumin	Single intraperitoneal injection 30 minutes after SCI	In curcumin/SCI versus SCI/DMSO group, increased gray-white matter interface, tissue edema/AQP-4 expression, as well as GFAP/pJAK-STAT expression	Functional motor scores higher in SCI/curcumin group than in SCI/DMSO group
Wang et al. [32]	Not specified	BALB/c mice	Extradural clip for 3 seconds	Sham, SCI/DMSO, and SCI/curcumin	Single intraperitoneal injection immediately after SCI	In SCI/curcumin versus SCI/DMSO group, decreased tissue expression of GFAP & Iba-1 and increased NF-200	With curcumin, decreased levels of IL-1β, NO, and NF-κB; increased neuromotor scores
Lin et al. [33]	39	Sprague-Dawley rats	Spinal cord hemisection	Sham (), SCI/DMSO (), and SCI/curcumin ()	Daily intraperitoneal injection beginning 1 day after SCI, for 6 total days	In SCI/curcumin versus SCI/DMSO group, fewer apoptotic & GFAP cells and more NeuN/cells	Improvement in motor performance in SCI/curcumin group over SCI/DMSO group at days 3 & 7
Yuan et al. [34]	36	Sprague-Dawley rats	Clip for 60 seconds	Sham, SCI only, SCI/curcumin (three dose levels), and SCI/methylprednisolone	Immediate intraperitoneal injection after SCI, followed by daily injections for 7 total days	Over other groups, smaller histological glial scar and GFAP expression in SCI/curcumin group, with numerical dose response	Decreased expression of several inflammatory and fibrotic cytokines, viable axonal fibers, and functional recovery in SCI/curcumin group over other groups, no appreciable dose response