scholarly journals Biomedical Applications and Bioavailability of Curcumin—An Updated Overview

Pharmaceutics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 2102
Author(s):  
Soo-In Sohn ◽  
Arumugam Priya ◽  
Boopathi Balasubramaniam ◽  
Pandiyan Muthuramalingam ◽  
Chandran Sivasankar ◽  
...  

Curcumin, a yellow-colored molecule derived from the rhizome of Curcuma longa, has been identified as the bioactive compound responsible for numerous pharmacological activities of turmeric, including anticancer, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antidiabetic, etc. Nevertheless, the clinical application of curcumin is inadequate due to its low solubility, poor absorption, rapid metabolism and elimination. Advancements in recent research have shown several components and techniques to increase the bioavailability of curcumin. Combining with adjuvants, encapsulating in carriers and formulating in nanoforms, in combination with other bioactive agents, synthetic derivatives and structural analogs of curcumin, have shown increased efficiency and bioavailability, thereby augmenting the range of applications of curcumin. The scope for incorporating biotechnology and nanotechnology in amending the current drawbacks would help in expanding the biomedical applications and clinical efficacy of curcumin. Therefore, in this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the plethora of therapeutic potentials of curcumin, their drawbacks in efficient clinical applications and the recent advancements in improving curcumin’s bioavailability for effective use in various biomedical applications.

Marine Drugs ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 241
Author(s):  
Shaden A. M. Khalifa ◽  
Eslam S. Shedid ◽  
Essa M. Saied ◽  
Amir Reza Jassbi ◽  
Fatemeh H. Jamebozorgi ◽  
...  

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic prokaryotic organisms which represent a significant source of novel, bioactive, secondary metabolites, and they are also considered an abundant source of bioactive compounds/drugs, such as dolastatin, cryptophycin 1, curacin toyocamycin, phytoalexin, cyanovirin-N and phycocyanin. Some of these compounds have displayed promising results in successful Phase I, II, III and IV clinical trials. Additionally, the cyanobacterial compounds applied to medical research have demonstrated an exciting future with great potential to be developed into new medicines. Most of these compounds have exhibited strong pharmacological activities, including neurotoxicity, cytotoxicity and antiviral activity against HCMV, HSV-1, HHV-6 and HIV-1, so these metabolites could be promising candidates for COVID-19 treatment. Therefore, the effective large-scale production of natural marine products through synthesis is important for resolving the existing issues associated with chemical isolation, including small yields, and may be necessary to better investigate their biological activities. Herein, we highlight the total synthesized and stereochemical determinations of the cyanobacterial bioactive compounds. Furthermore, this review primarily focuses on the biotechnological applications of cyanobacteria, including applications as cosmetics, food supplements, and the nanobiotechnological applications of cyanobacterial bioactive compounds in potential medicinal applications for various human diseases are discussed.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 3140
Author(s):  
Rocco Giordano ◽  
Zeinab Saii ◽  
Malthe Fredsgaard ◽  
Laura Sini Sofia Hulkko ◽  
Thomas Bouet Guldbæk Poulsen ◽  
...  

The pharmacological activities in bioactive plant extracts play an increasing role in sustainable resources for valorization and biomedical applications. Bioactive phytochemicals, including natural compounds, secondary metabolites and their derivatives, have attracted significant attention for use in both medicinal products and cosmetic products. Our review highlights the pharmacological mode-of-action and current biomedical applications of key bioactive compounds applied as anti-inflammatory, bactericidal with antibiotics effects, and pain relief purposes in controlled clinical studies or preclinical studies. In this systematic review, the availability of bioactive compounds from several salt-tolerant plant species, mainly focusing on the three promising species Aster tripolium, Crithmum maritimum and Salicornia europaea, are summarized and discussed. All three of them have been widely used in natural folk medicines and are now in the focus for future nutraceutical and pharmacological applications.


Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 212
Author(s):  
William N. Setzer ◽  
Lam Duong ◽  
Ambika Poudel ◽  
Srinivasa Rao Mentreddy

Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) is an important spice, particularly is Asian cuisine, and is also used in traditional herbal medicine. Curcuminoids are the main bioactive agents in turmeric, but turmeric essential oils also contain health benefits. Turmeric is a tropical crop and is cultivated in warm humid environments worldwide. The southeastern United States also possesses a warm humid climate with a growing demand for locally sourced herbs and spices. In this study, five different varieties of C. longa were cultivated in north Alabama, the rhizome essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation, and the essential oils were analyzed by gas chromatographic techniques. The major components in the essential oils were α-phellandrene (3.7–11.8%), 1,8-cineole (2.6–11.7%), α-zingiberene (0.8–12.5%), β-sesquiphellandrene (0.7–8.0%), ar-turmerone (6.8–32.5%), α-turmerone (13.6–31.5%), and β-turmerone (4.8–18.4%). The essential oil yields and chemical profiles of several of the varieties are comparable with those from tropical regions, suggesting that these should be considered for cultivation and commercialization in the southeastern United States.


Marine Drugs ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. 610
Author(s):  
Junjie Yan ◽  
Weiwei Liu ◽  
Jiatong Cai ◽  
Yiming Wang ◽  
Dahong Li ◽  
...  

Phenazines are a large group of nitrogen-containing heterocycles, providing diverse chemical structures and various biological activities. Natural phenazines are mainly isolated from marine and terrestrial microorganisms. So far, more than 100 different natural compounds and over 6000 synthetic derivatives have been found and investigated. Many phenazines show great pharmacological activity in various fields, such as antimicrobial, antiparasitic, neuroprotective, insecticidal, anti-inflammatory and anticancer activity. Researchers continued to investigate these compounds and hope to develop them as medicines. Cimmino et al. published a significant review about anticancer activity of phenazines, containing articles from 2000 to 2011. Here, we mainly summarize articles from 2012 to 2021. According to sources of compounds, phenazines were categorized into natural phenazines and synthetic phenazine derivatives in this review. Their pharmacological activities, mechanisms of action, biosynthetic pathways and synthetic strategies were summarized. These may provide guidance for the investigation on phenazines in the future.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Congjie Pan ◽  
Qiaoqiao Wen ◽  
Longfei Ma ◽  
Xuezhen Qin ◽  
Suxiang Feng

Curcumin, an active ingredient of Curcuma longa, which possesses good biological and pharmacological activities, is effective in treating of many diseases. Developing simple and sensitive methods for detection of curcumin...


Nutrients ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 2499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatrice Scazzocchio ◽  
Luisa Minghetti ◽  
Massimo D’Archivio

Curcumin, a lipophilic polyphenol contained in the rhizome of Curcuma longa (turmeric), has been used for centuries in traditional Asian medicine, and nowadays it is widely used in food as dietary spice worldwide. It has received considerable attention for its pharmacological activities, which appear to act primarily through anti-inflammatory and antioxidant mechanisms. For this reason, it has been proposed as a tool for the management of many diseases, among which are gastrointestinal and neurological diseases, diabetes, and several types of cancer. However, the pharmacology of curcumin remains to be elucidated; indeed, a discrepancy exists between the well-documented in vitro and in vivo activities of curcumin and its poor bioavailability and chemical instability that should limit any therapeutic effect. Recently, it has been hypothesized that curcumin could exert direct regulative effects primarily in the gastrointestinal tract, where high concentrations of this polyphenol have been detected after oral administration. Consequently, it might be hypothesized that curcumin directly exerts its regulatory effects on the gut microbiota, thus explaining the paradox between its low systemic bioavailability and its wide pharmacological activities. It is well known that the microbiota has several important roles in human physiology, and its composition can be influenced by a multitude of environmental and lifestyle factors. Accordingly, any perturbations in gut microbiome profile or dysbiosis can have a key role in human disease progression. Interestingly, curcumin and its metabolites have been shown to influence the microbiota. It is worth noting that from the interaction between curcumin and microbiota two different phenomena arise: the regulation of intestinal microflora by curcumin and the biotransformation of curcumin by gut microbiota, both of them potentially crucial for curcumin activity. This review summarizes the most recent studies on this topic, highlighting the strong connection between curcumin and gut microbiota, with the final aim of adding new insight into the potential mechanisms by which curcumin exerts its effects.


Molecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (11) ◽  
pp. 2120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignacio E. Tobal ◽  
Alejandro M. Roncero ◽  
Rosalina F. Moro ◽  
David Díez ◽  
Isidro S. Marcos

Recently, the methylene-cycloakylacetate (MCA) scaffold has been reported as a potential pharmacophore for neurite outgrowth activity. In this work, natural diterpenes that embed MCA fragments are reviewed, as they are major components of Halimium viscosum: ent-halimic acid, the prototype for these bioactive compounds. Herein, structures, sources, and activities for the natural diterpenes, as well as their synthetic derivatives of interest, are reviewed.


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