Role of curcumin in ameliorating hypertension and associated conditions: a mechanistic insight

Curcumin, belongs to the curcuminoid family, is a natural phenolic compound, presenting low bioavailability and pleiotropic activity. Since ancient times, curcumin has been in use as food spices and folk remedy to treat cough, cold, cuts and wounds, and skin diseases. Preclinical and clinical studies have indicated that curcumin acts a promising therapeutic agent in the management of a wide array of health issues, viz., hyperlipidemia, metabolic syndrome, anxiety, arthritis, cancer and inflammatory diseases. Owing to its enormous potential, recent research has been focused on the synthesis of curcumin and its analogues for the management of metabolic disorders. In the current scenario, hypertension is considered as a key risk factor due to its involvement in various pathogeneses. Mechanistically, curcumin and its analogues like hexahydrocurcumin, tetrahydrocurcumin, etc. have been reported to elicit anti-hypertensive effect through diverse signalling pathways, viz., pathway mediated by Nrf2-ARE, NF-kB, NO/cGMP/PDE5/MMPs, RAAS/ACE, HAT/HDAC, G0/G1/apoptosis, CYP3A4, UCP2/PARP, VEGF/STAT/AXL/tyrosine kinase and TGF-β/Smad-mediated pathways. Thus, the present review has been aimed to highlight different molecular pathways involved in the amelioration of hypertension and associated conditions.