Curcumin is not soluble in water. Therefore, curcumin emulsion that can dissolve well in water were prepared using multi-emulsification technology, and the antioxidant activities and physical properties of emulsion were measured. Although curcumin was not dissolved in water, it was confirmed to be well dispersed in water when prepared in an aqueous dispersion curcumin emulsion. After dissolving curcumin using water and ethanol as solvents, respectively, the DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging abilities of the filtrate and the curcumin emulsion were measured. Because it was not dissolved in water, activities were not shown. However, when curcumin was dissolved in ethanol, the activities increased as the concentration of curcumin increased. On the other hand, when the curcumin emulsion was dissolved in water, it was found to have abilities. The curcumin emulsion was nano-homogenized and the size and distribution of the emulsified spheres were measured. It was confirmed to be nano-sized as it appeared as 9.083 nm/100%. In the results of the DPPH radical and ABTS radical scavenging abilities of curcumin nano-emulsion, it was confirmed that there was no change in the antioxidant abilities. In conclusion, water-dispersible curcumin prepared using multi-emulsification technology, and it was confirmed to exhibit antioxidant activity and emulsion stability.

Curcumin is a hydrophobic polyphenol extracted from turmeric that exhibits a variety of biological functions has albeit with limited efficacy as a functional food material owing to its low absorption when administered orally. The newly developed curcumin powder formulation exhibits improved absorption rate in vivo. This study evaluates the anti-oxidant effects of Theracurmin® (TC), which is highly bio-available in curcumin powder. The antioxidant activity of TC was investigated using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging activity, ferrous reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays, NO radical, superoxide radical, H2O2 scavenging activity, and total antioxidant capacity (TAC). Additionally, we evaluated the antioxidant activity of TC in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed streptozotocin (STZ)-induced Type 2 diabetic rats. As a result of oral administration of TC for 13 weeks in type 2 diabetic rats, the group administration of 2,000 mg/kg significantly increased FRAP, superoxide dismutase (SOD), and reduced the level of glutathione (GSH) in liver tissue 1.9, 1.2, and 1.2-times, respectively. Furthermore, serum TAC levels increased by 1.3-fold after the rats were administered with a dose of 500 mg/kg. These results were consistent with the in vitro assay results. In conclusion, TC exhibited its potential as a functional food material through its antioxidant properties.

Nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) are getting attention as delivery system for nutraceuticals due to its low toxicity and higher loading efficiency of active ingredients. However, the cytotoxicity of NLC had not fully evaluated especially on neuroblastoma. In this study, cytotoxicity of NLC and curcumin-loaded NLC (C-NLC) were evaluated on SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells investigating cell morphology, mitochondrial activity, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production compared to H2O2 treatment as a positive control. As a result, the metabolic activity was inhibited about 40% by 250ppm of NLC along with morphological change. C-NLC exhibited 50% inhibitory effect on mitochondrial activity at 500ppm, which was lower than NLC itself. Moreover, NLCs significantly induced ROS production which was recognized as one of the indicators of cytotoxicity generated by NLCs. In conclusion, lower cytotoxic effect was observed with NLC on SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma based on ROS production and these investigation could be used for further application of NLC in food industry.

Starch is an abundant, renewable, and low cost material that has been extensively studied for its role in crystallization. Herein, we developed a facile and green approach to produce the starch-based microparticles (SMPs) that could encapsulate curcumin during the self-association of short glucan chain obtained from waxy maize starch. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis indicated that the diameters of curcumin-loaded SMPs were ranged from 1.5 μm to 3 μm. The characteristics of the curcumin-loaded SMPs were evaluated via Raman spectroscopy, confocal microscopy, UV spectrophotometer, and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results showed that the suspended curcumin was encapsulated in SMPs in amorphous form with a encapsulating efficiency of about 96.36%. Photostability test confirmed that curcumin that is loaded inside SMPs was effectively protected against the photodegradation. Curcumin-loaded SMPs can be used not only in food industry for extending the shelf life of curcumin, but also in pharmaceutical industry to design effective carrier for oral delivery.

Curcumin is an active polyphenolic compound with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antitumor properties. Curcumin, however, is highly unstable under physiological conditions due to its low stability in acidic and alkaline conditions. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the effects of enzyme-treated rice starch as a wall material on the stability of curcumin in oil-in-water emulsion under different pH conditions. The rice starch was treated using 4-a-glucanotransferase for different time periods and their molecular weight distribution was measured by HPSEC. Curcumin was encapsulated within lipid droplets of O/W emulsion prepared with Tween 20 and the modified rice starch in the aqueous phase at different concentrations (0, 2.5, 7.5 and 10 wt%). The temperature and pH stability of the system were determined respectively by measuring particle size, zeta potential and retention of the curcumin loaded in the emulsion after one-week storage in the solutions with different pH and temperature conditions. The average molecular weight of the modified starch decreased with treatment time. The 96h treated rice starch had the lowest molecular weight while the 1h treated starch mainly consisted of high molecular weight components. The storage temperature did not significantly influence the stability of curcumin emulsion. However, the particle size of the emulsion with modified starch slightly increased when stored at acidic pH condition, which might be attributed to starch aggregation. The curcumin retention was higher for the samples with the modified starch than the control at all concentrations. The pH stability of the curcumin was also higher than the control at all pH conditions. Specifically, the 1h treated starch showed the best performance regarding curcumin protection in emulsion, which might be attributed to the high viscosity that retarded the curcumin release. Further research needs to be conducted on the mechanism.

In this experiment, we determined the effect of curcumin supplementation in freezing buffer for miniature pig sperm cryopreservation. Each ejaculate was diluted with modified Modena B extender and mixed with lactose-egg yolk (LEY extender, 80% v/v lactose solution [310 mM], 20% v/v egg yolk, and100 μg/mL kanamycin sulfate) and LEY-glycerol Orvus ES Paste (LEYGO, 89.5% v/v LEY, 5% v/v glycerol, 1.5% v/v Orvus ES Paste), 100 mM trehalose supplemented with 0, 10, 50, 100, and 500 μM of curcumin from turmeric, respectively. Following equilibration, the 0.5 mL French straws were frozen and plunged into LN2 tank for 7 days at least. Sperm parameter and oxidative byproducts were determined by the computer assisted sperm motility analysis (CASA) and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) as compared with each groups.Supplementation of curcumin had no effect on sperm motility, progressive motility and curvilinear velocity. However, average-path velocity and straight-line velocity were significantly higher in 10 μM curcumin group (100.9±8.8 μm/s, 61.7±2.9 μm/s, respectively) than control group (77.8±3.9 μm/s, 46.4±3.0 μm/s, respectively) (p < 0.05). In addition, the level of the O2 radical and H2O2 were comparatively decreased in curcumin groups by evaluation of ethidium and DCF fluorescence. According to the results, curcumin can improve sperm kinetic variables and alleviate ROS induced cryoinjury to pig sperm.

Curcumin have various health-beneficial properties in numerous studies. However, its bioavailability is low due to its limited intestinal uptake and rapid metabolism. This study aimed to evaluate the pharmacokinetics of newly developed sub-micron particle curcumin with increased water dispersibility (Theracurmin® CR-033P). Plasma curcumin levels were measured at 0, 1, 2, 4, 8 h after Theracurmin® CR-033P intake using high-performance liquid chromatography. For analyzing pharmacokinetics of Theracurmin® CR-033P, eighteen healthy subjects were recruited and received Theracurmin® CR-033P at a single oral dose containing curcumin 30 mg. Cmax was 28.14 ng/ml, and the area under the curve for 8 h was estimated to be 104.36 ng/ml. Based on the area under the plasma concentration (AUC), the bioavailability of sub-micron particle curcumin was higher 22-, 35-, 28-fold than native curcumin in men, women, and all subjects, respectively. For comparing by formulation, seven healthy subjects were recruited and received two type of treatment: (1) existing dosage form 300 mg (contained curcumin 30 mg) × 3 capsule, (2) high dosage form 300 mg (contained curcumin 90 mg) × 1 capsule + placebo 300 mg × 2 capsule. In the cross-over study, there was no significant differences in Cmax and AUC of plasma curcumin. In conclusion, submicron particle curcumin with increased water dispersibility significantly improved its oral bioavailability and women absorbed curcumin more effectively than men. Different formulation of Theracurmin® CR-033P has shown equivalent to the reference in terms of pharmacokinetics.

Curcumin is a natural polyphenolic phytochemical, which has a number of potential benefits in biological activities. However, curcumin has extremely low water solubility and low bioavailability, which makes it difficult to incorporate into many food products. In this study, we investigated the effects of biopolymer emulsifier type and environmental stress on the physical stability of nanoemulsions containing curcumin. Nanoemulsion containing curcumin stabilized by sodium caseinate (SC), whey protein isolate (WPI), modified starch (MS), and gum arabic (GA) were prepared using microfludizer. The droplet size of nanoemulsions decreased significantly from 1028 nm to 169 nm as emulsifier concentration increased (p<0.05). The optimum concentration of emulsifiers for stable curcumin nanoemulsions were determined to be 1% of SC and 1% of WPI, respectively. The storage study showed that the nanoemulsions were physically stable for 5 weeks at 25oC. In addition, nanoemulsions were physically stable against heat, freeze-thaw, pH, and NaCl solution. However, extensive droplet aggregation occurred in protein-stabilized nanoemulsions at CaCl2 solution, which was attributed to hydrophobic interaction between droplets.

To enhance the oral bioavailability (BA) of curcumin (CUR), we applied 1 wt% CUR-loaded lipid nanoparticle (LNP) system prepared with tristearin (TS) and short (Brij S10) / long (Brij S100) PEGylated surfactants. All LNPs were colloidally stable under high ion strength and pH 3 conditions regardless of the PEG chain length. However, the long-chained PEGylation prevented LNP surface better than the short-chained PEGylation from the lipase/bile salt adsorption according to ζ potential results after treatment of lipase and bile solutions. Actually, the short-chained LNPs were digested rapider than the long-chained one in the simulated small intestinal condition due to the faster displacement of PEGylated surfactants on LNP surface by bile salts. Furthermore in the rat model pharmacokinetics for oral administration of CUR, the long-chained LNP group had 10.62-fold BA of native CUR group due to the coabsorption of CUR with the mixed micelles made after gastrointestinal digestion, and had 4.57-fold BA of the short-chained LNP group despite the same molarity use (17.058 mM) of both emulsifiers due to the reduced digestion rate by long-chained PEG on LNP surface. In conclusion, since CUR incorporated in LNPs was improved in the bioavailability, the designed LNP system may serve as an encapsulation strategy to enhance the bioavailability of non-bioavailable nutraceuticals in foods.

Although cryopreservation of sperm is routinely used for clinical requirement, it has some problems, such as high generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and cold-shock. To reduce the detrimental damage in sperm, anti-oxidants were added to cryoprotectant for sperm. Curcumin is one of anti-oxidants, which are added in cryoprotectants. However, recent studies have demonstrated that curcumin decreases sperm viability and motility. This study was performed to identify the effect of curcumin on hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-exposed bovine sperm, which were cryopreserved-thawed. In H2O2-exposed bovine sperm, reactive oxygen species (ROS) were significantly reduced by treatment with curcumin in a dose-dependent manner (p < 0.05). Among tested concentrations of curcumin (1 to 50 μM), 30 and 50 μM curcumin showed anti-oxidant effect on H2O2-induced ROS generation. On the other hand, combination of 30 or 50 μM curcumin with anti-oxidant H2O2 increased the percentage of apoptotic sperm compared to only H2O2 treatment. Sperm viability was also decreased in the combination of 30 or 50 μM curcumin with H2O2 as judged by FDA/PI staining. H2O2–induced decrease in sperm progressive motility was recovered by treatment with 1 μM curcumin. These results show that high concentration of curcumin has anti-oxidant effect, but it has also cytotoxic effect on bovine sperm. Sperm viability and motility might be more affected by cytotoxic signals of curcumin compared to antioxidant signals.

Curcumin plays a protective role in brain injury through its anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Moreover, peroxiredoxin-5 exerts a protective effect against oxidative stress. The aim of this study was to investigate whether curcumin modulated the peroxiredoxin-5 expression in focal cerebral ischemic animal model. Middle cerebral artery occlusion(MCAO) was performed to induce cerebral ischemic injury in rats. Adult male rats were injected intraperitoneally with vehicle or curcumin(50㎎/㎏ B.W.) 1 h after MCAO and cerebral cortex tissues were collected 24 h after MCAO. Photographs of hematoxylin and eosin staining showed that MCAO induced necrotic changes with scalloped shrunken form and apoptotic changes with nuclear chromatin condensations. However, curcumin treatment attenuated MCAO-induced histopathological changes. Moreover, this study clearly showed that peroxiredoxin-5 expression was decreased in MCAO operated animal with vehicle using a proteomics approach. However, this decrease in peroxiredoxin-5 expression was attenuated by curcumin treatment. Reverse-transcription PCR and Western blot analyses confirmed that curcumin treatment alleviated the MCAO injury-induced decrease in peroxiredoxin-5 expression(p<0.05). These results demonstrated that curcumin regulates peroxiredoxin-5 expression in MCAO animal model. In conclusion, our findings suggest that curcumin exerts a neuroprotective effect in cerebral ischemia by attenuating the MCAO-induced decrease in peroxiredoxin-5 expression.

울금의 주요 성분인 커큐민과 대두 추출물인 이소플라본의 피부 미용 측면에서 생리활성을 연구하여 화장품 소재로서 가능성 여부를 규명하고자 하였다. 본 연구는 세포실험을 통해 커큐민과 대두 추출물을 피부 세포에 대한 독성 및 항염증을 확인하고, HPLC을 이용하여 대두 추출물의 성분분석과 피부에 적용하였을 때 수분과 유분, 홍반변화를 측정하였다. 본 연구 결과 커큐민이 RAW 264.7 세포에 대한 독성이 적은 것으로 확인되었으며, 항염증에 대한 효과를 확인하였다. 8주 동안 커큐민과 대두 추 출물이 함유된 화장품과 식이를 병행하여 사용하였을 때 수분함량 변화, 유분함량 변화, 홍반 지수의 감 소가 통계적으로 유의미한 변화를 나타내었으며, 여드름 피부에 유의한 효과를 가질 수 있음을 확인하였 다. 따라서 본 연구는 커큐민과 대두 추출물이 화장품 소재로 사용 시 여드름 피부 개선에 효과적인 화 장품 소재로서 활용 가능성이 있을 것으로 사료된다.

새로운 기능성 소득 작물로서의 가치 향상과 재배기술 보급을 위한 기초자료로 활용하기 위하여 가을 울금의 curcumin 유도체 분리 및 구조를 분석하였으며, 지표물질에 대한 정량과 정성분석을 하였다. 가을 울금의 근경을 추출하고 column chromatography을 통하여 5종의 물질을 분리하였다. 이들 화합 물은 1H-NMR과 13C-NMR 분석을 행하여 구조를 동정하였다. 이들 화합물은 HPLC로 정량분석한 결과 주요 화합물은 HPLC에서 화합물 1(curcumin): 13.8분, 화합물 2(demethoxycurcumin): 13.1분, 화합 물 3(bisdemethoxycurcumin): 12.6분, 화합물 4(1-hydroxy-1,7-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxypheny1) -6-heptene-3,5 -dione): 8.7분, 화합물 5(dihydrocurcumin): 12.1분에서 각각 나타났다.

Curcumin (diferuloylmethane), a constituent of turmeric powder derived from the rhizome of Curcuma longa, has been shown to inhibit the growth of various types of cancer cells by regulating cell proliferation and apoptosis. However, a need exists to design more effective analogs because of curcumin's poor intestinal absorption. EF-24 (diphenyl difluoroketone), the monoketone analog of curcumin, has shown good efficacy in anticancer screens. However, the effects of curcumin and EF-24 on salivary gland epidermoid carcinoma cells are not clearly established. The main goal of this study was to investigate the effects of curcumin and EF-24 on cell growth and induction of apoptosis in human salivary gland epidermoid carcinoma cells. Our studies showed that curcumin and EF-24 inhibited the growth of HTB-41 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner, and the potency of EF-24 was > 34-fold that of curcumin. Treatment with curcumin or EF-24 resulted in nuclear condensation and fragmentation in HTB-41 cells, whereas the control HTB-41 cell nuclei retained their normal regular and oval shape. Curcumin and EF-24 promoted proteolytic cleavages of procaspase-3/-7/-9, resulting in an increase in the amount of cleaved caspase-3/-7/-9 in the HTB-41 cells. Caspase-3 and -7 activities were detected in viable HTB-41 cells treated with curcumin or EF-24. These results suggest that the curcumin and EF-24 inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis in HTB-41 human salivary gland epidermoid carcinoma cells, and that they may have potential properties as an anti-cancer drug therapy.

본 연구에서는 지용성 생리활성 물질인 커큐민의 가용화를 통해 실제 식품에 적용하기 위하여 고압 균질기(microfluidizer)를 이용한 나노크기 입자를 생산하였으며,제조된 나노에멀젼의 입자특성을 검토하였다. 제조된 나노에멀젼의 여러 가지 물리적 특성은 유화제 종류 및 농도,분산상과 연속상의 혼합비율, 고압 균질기의 압력 및 통과횟수의 영향을 받았다. 일반적으로 연속상에서의 유화제농도가 높을수록, 고압 균질기 압력 및 통과횟수가 높을수록 입자크기 및 제타전위 값이 감소하는 경향을 보였으며,입자분산지수 또한 감소되는 양상을 보였다. 여러 조건에서 제조된 나노에멀젼의 저장 기간 동안 입자크기 변화를측정한 결과, 물리적으로 매우 안정한 상태를 유지하였다.따라서, 본 연구를 통해 고압균질기를 이용하여 입자분포가 좁은 커큐민 함유 나노에멀젼을 제조할 수 있었다. 추후 연구에서는 음료와 같은 실제 식품에 적용하고 상업적으로 이용하기 위해서는 열, 냉동, pH, 염 등의 외부환경에 대한 물리화학적 안정성을 검토해야 할 것이다.