Medycyna Wet. 67 (1), 55-58, 2011
| Gutowicz M., Augustyn A., Pyrzanowska J., Widy-Tyszkiewicz E., Barańczyk-Kuźma A. |
| Effect of age and curcumin supplementation on the efficiency of detoxification in rat tissues |
| Curcumin is a yellow pigment extracted from the rhizome of Curcuma Longa. It has been used in Asia for several thousand years as a spice, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and digestive agent. Current research reports that curcumin exhibits antioxidative, anticancer and neuroprotective properties. The aim of this study was to compare the activity of catalase (CAT), glutathione S-transferase (GST) and arginase (ARG) in the rat kidney, heart and skeletal muscle during aging, as well as to determine the effect of systematic curcumin supplementation on the activity of the above enzymes in old animals. Studies were conducted on adult (6 months of age) and old (22 months of age) Wistar Albino Glaxo males. The animals were separated into four groups of 7-8 rats each. Groups I and II were given a standard diet without curcumin, groups III and IV were on a diet supplemented with 10 and 50 mg/kg b.w. of curcumin, respectively. Ageing was observed to have no effect on CAT activity in any of the tissues under investigation, whereas GST activity decreased in both the kidney and the skeletal muscle but not in the heart. In the kidney the level of GSH significantly decreased, but ARG activity increased. After the administration of curcumin to old rats, the activities of CAT and GST increased in the kidney and the skeletal muscle, but not in the heart. The level of GSH was higher in the kidney, but ARG activity remained unchanged. Thus, curcumin supplementation has a positive effect on detoxification processes in extrahepatic tissues of old rats. |
| Keywords: age, curcumin, catalase, glutathione S-transferase, arginase |