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Updated: Feb 11, 2026

Labeling and Imaging of Amyloid Plaques in Brain Tissue Using the Natural Polyphenol Curcumin
Published on: November 1, 2019
The pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of curcumin and its metabolites in mice
Junjun Wang1, Xuejin Yu1, Ling Zhang2
1Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Biotechnology of Chinese Traditional Medicine, Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Green Transformation of Bio-resources, Hubei University, Wuhan, China.
Abstract:
Curcumin (CUR) is the major active component of turmeric and plays an important role in the prevention and treatment of many chronic diseases such as respiratory and neurodegenerative disease. In the present work, a rapid and simple LC-MS/MS method was developed to investigate the pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of CUR and its metabolites in mice after intravenous administration of CUR (20 mg/kg). The results showed that the values of AUC0-∞ were 107.0 ± 18.3, 6.0 ± 1.2 and 12.0 ± 4.0 (mg/L) min, and those for t1/2z were 32.4 ± 10.8, 6.4 ± 2.4 and 5.6 ± 1.8 min for CUR, dihydrocurcumin (DHC) and tetrahydrocurcumin (THC) in plasma, respectively. CUR and THC could be detected in liver while CUR and DHC were detected in kidney. Only CUR was detected in brain. These findings indicated that THC was the main metabolite of CUR in plasma. The exposure of CUR in plasma was 6-fold greater than that in liver, kidney and brain.
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