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Cur2004-8 more effective than curcumin, animal study
Curcumin is very interesting stuff. Hands down. However, its bioavailability is sub-optimal. South Korean biotechnologists at Soonchunhyang University are doing animal experiments with a semi-synthetic variant of curcumin that may work better than curcumin itself. The analog is called Cur2004-8.
Study
The researchers placed Cur2004-8 at two different concentrations in the culture medium of nematodes, and then determined how long the animals could live. They did similar experiments with nematodes in a culture medium without active substances and a culture medium in which they had put curcumin.
The researchers were funded by the South Korean government.
Living longer
The nematodes lived longer if the researchers put curcumin in the medium - and even longer if the animals lived in a medium with a relatively small amount of 5 micromoles Cur2004-8.
Extending health span
The addition of 5 micromoles Cur2004-8 to the medium improved the vitality of the nematodes. The figure below refers to nematodes that are 20 days old.
Mechanism
Cur2004-8 extended the life of nematodes when exposed to hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is an oxygen radical. Cur2004-8 therefore has an antioxidant effect.
The figure above shows that Cur2004-8 extended the life of the nematodes if they also received extreme amounts of glucose through their medium [HGD = high-glucose diet]. In large quantities, glucose is toxic for nematodes. The researchers suspect that Cur2004-8 may be a diabetes medicine for humans.
Finally, the figure below relates to experiments with a genetically modified nematode. These animals had started to produce a lot of the beta-amyloid peptide. You can find this protein in the brains of people with Alzheimer's or other dementia variants. When the nematode variant of Alzheimer's strikes, the animals become paralyzed.
The figure below tells Cur-2004-8 slows this process down - to an even greater degree than curcumin. So cur2004-8 may be an Alzheimer's drug, the researchers speculate.
Conclusion
"Cur2004-8 has antioxidant and antiaging activities and protective activity against toxicities involved in age-related diseases", write the Koreans. "Cur2004-8 has higher anti-oxidant and antiaging activities than curcumin. It can be used for the development of novel anti-aging product."
"Further studies identifying downstream molecular targets of Cur2004-8 and determining its in vivo effect in higher organisms such as mice are necessary."
Source:
Drug Discoveries & Therapeutics. 2019; 13(4):198-206. >
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