Role of curcumin in mesenteric ischemia - reperfusion injury in rats

Curcumin is an antioxidant molecule that has been shown to attenuate ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in several organ systems. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the possible effects of curcumin on contractile response to agonists and histopathological alterations in rat esophagus subjected to mesenteric I/R.

Adult male Wistar albino rats were randomly allocated to 4 groups, namely group I: sham-operated animals (n=10); group II: animals subdued to I/R injury only (n=10) and laparotomy; 45 minutes of superior mesenteric artery ligation were followed by 2 hours of reperfusion, group III: curcumin/sham (n=10); 20 days before I/R, curcumin (200 mg/kg/) was administered by gastric gavage, and group IV: curcumin-I/R (n=10). Mesenteric ischemia/reperfusion model was generated by clamping the superior mesenteric artery for 45 min followed by reperfusion for 2 h. Oral administration of curcumin by gavage at a dose of 200 mg/kg/day lasted 20 days just before inducing the mesenteric ischemia. At the end of reperfusion period, all animals were sacrificed and esophagus samples were collected to assess the contractile response to agonists and histopathological alterations.

Ischemia/reperfusion significantly decreased the contractile responses to carbachol and KCl and this decrease was attenuated by curcumin. Pretreatment with curcumin caused a remarkable decrease in histopathological parameters such as edema, congestion and inflammatory cells.

The results of the present study demonstrate for the first time that curcumin can attenuate the esophageal injury associated with I/R (Tab. 4, Fig. 3, Ref. 32).