Oral administration of curcumin relieves behavioral alterations and oxidative stress in the frontal cortex, hippocampus, and striatum of ovariectomized Wistar rats

• Published in: The Journal of nutritional biochemistry 2016-06, Vol.32, p.181-188
• Main Authors: Da Silva Morrone, Maurilio, Schnorr, Carlos Eduardo, Behr, Guilherme Antônio, Gasparotto, Juciano, Bortolin, Rafael Calixto, Moresco, Karla Suzana, Bittencourt, Leonardo, Zanotto-Filho, Alfeu, Gelain, Daniel Pens, Moreira, José Cláudio Fonseca
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Antioxidants - administration & dosage; Antioxidants - therapeutic use; Anxiety; Anxiety - metabolism; Anxiety - prevention & control; Behavior, Animal; Biomarkers - metabolism; Central nervous system; Cognitive Dysfunction - metabolism; Cognitive Dysfunction - prevention & control; Corpus Striatum - growth & development; Corpus Striatum - metabolism; Curcumin; Curcumin - administration & dosage; Curcumin - therapeutic use; Dietary Supplements; Female; Frontal Lobe - growth & development; Frontal Lobe - metabolism; Hippocampus - growth & development; Hippocampus - metabolism; Maze Learning; Mood Disorders - metabolism; Mood Disorders - prevention & control; Neurons - metabolism; Ovariectomy; Oxidative Stress; Postmenopause; Protein Carbonylation; Psychomotor Disorders - metabolism; Psychomotor Disorders - prevention & control; Random Allocation; Rats, Wistar
• ISSN: 0955-2863; 1873-4847
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jnutbio.2016.03.010

Menopause occurs gradually and is characterized by increased susceptibility to developing mood disorders. Several studies have suggested treatments based on the antioxidant properties of vitamins and herbal compounds as an alternative to hormone replacement therapies, with few or none reporting toxicity. The present study was performed to explore the effects of curcumin oral supplementation on anxiety-like behavior and oxidative stress parameters in different central nervous system (CNS) areas of ovariectomized (OVX) rats. Female Wistar rats were randomly divided into either sham-operated or OVX groups. Sham-operated group (n=8) and an OVX group (n=11) were treated with vehicle, and the other two OVX groups received curcumin at 50 or 100mg/kg/day doses (n=8/group). Elevated plus maze (EPM) test was performed on the 28th day of treatment. On the 30th day, animals were killed and the dissected brain regions were removed and stored at−80°C until analysis. Ovariectomy induced deficit in the locomotor activity and increased anxiety-like behavior. Moreover, OVX rats showed increased lipid oxidized in the frontal cortex and striatum, increased hippocampal and striatal carbonylated protein level, and decreased striatal thiol content of non-protein fraction indicative of a glutathione (GSH) pool. Curcumin oral treatment for 30days reduced oxidative stress in the CNS areas as well as the behavior alterations resulting from ovariectomy. Curcumin supplementation attenuated most of these parameters to sham comparable values, suggesting that curcumin could have positive effects against anxiety-like disturbances and brain oxidative damage due to hormone deprivation.