Curcumin found to be neuroprotective against mercury and help detox after exposure

[Guest guest]

Detoxification and antioxidant effects of curcumin in rats experimentally

exposed to

mercury - Source: Journal of Applied Toxicology, Mar 12, 2010by R Agarwal, et

al.

March 19, 2010

<http://www.prohealth.com/library/showarticle.cfm?libid=15236>

Curcumin, a safe nutritional component and a

highly promising natural antioxidant with a wide spectrum of biological

functions, has been examined in several metal toxicity studies, but its

role in protection against mercury toxicity has not been investigated.

Therefore, the detoxification and antioxidant effects of curcumin were

examined to determine its prophylactic/therapeutic role in rats

experimentally exposed to mercury (in the from of mercuric

chloride-HgCl(2), 12 micromol kg(-1) b.w. single intraperitoneal

injection).

Curcumin treatment (80 mg kg(-1) b.w. daily for 3 days, orally) was

found to have a protective effect on mercury-induced oxidative stress

parameters, namely, lipid peroxidation and glutathione levels and

superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and catalase activities in

the liver, kidney and brain.

Curcumin treatment was also effective for reversing mercury-induced

serum biochemical changes, which are the markers of liver and kidney

injury.

Mercury concentration in the tissues was also decreased by the

pre/post-treatment with curcumin. However, histopathological alterations in the

liver and kidney were not reversed by curcumin treatment.

Mercury exposure resulted in the induction of metallothionein (MT) mRNA

expressions in the liver and kidney. Metallothionein mRNA expression

levels were found to decrease after the pre-treatment with curcumin,

whereas post-treatment with curcumin further increased MT mRNA

expression levels.

Our findings suggest that curcumin pretreatment has a protective effect

and that curcumin can be used as a therapeutic agent in mercury

intoxication. The study indicates that curcumin, an effective

antioxidant, may have a protective effect through its routine dietary

intake against mercury exposure.

Source: Journal of Applied Toxicology, Mar 12, 2010. PMID: 20229497, by Agarwal

R, Goel SK, Behari JR. Toxicokinetics

Section, Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (formerly: Industrial

Toxicology Research Centre), Council of Scientific and Industrial

Research, India.

Liora here: the best form of curcumin, and the one I use with our kid, is

Longvida brand from Verdure Labs, I think. Available at

<http://www.nutrivene.com>

Showed a much higher blood plasma level of curcumin than any of the other

formulations the lab tried out. This was UCLA labs under Dr. Sally Frautschy

blessings,

Liora Pearlman , ModeratorMom

" If people let government decide what foods they eat, their bodies will soon be

in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny. " –

Jefferson

" Leave your drugs in the chemist's pot if you can heal the patient with food "

HIPPOCRATES The Father of Medicine