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. 2016 Mar;20(2):147-52.
doi: 10.4196/kjpp.2016.20.2.147. Epub 2016 Feb 23.

Curcumin protects against the intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury: involvement of the tight junction protein ZO-1 and TNF-α related mechanism

Shuying Tian  1 , Ruixue Guo  1 , Sichen Wei  1 , Yu Kong  1 , Xinliang Wei  1 , Weiwei Wang  1 , Xiaomeng Shi  1 , Hongyu Jiang  1
Affiliations

Curcumin protects against the intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury: involvement of the tight junction protein ZO-1 and TNF-α related mechanism

Shuying Tian et al. Korean J Physiol Pharmacol. 2016 Mar.

Abstract

Present study aimed to investigate the eff ect of curcumin-pretreatment on intestinal I/R injury and on intestinal mucosa barrier. Thirty Wistar rats were randomly divided into: sham, I/R, and curcumin groups (n=10). Animals in curcumin group were pretreated with curcumin by gastric gavage (200 mg/kg) for 2 days before I/R. Small intestine tissues were prepared for Haematoxylin & Eosin (H&E) staining. Serum diamine oxidase (DAO) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α levels were measured. Expression of intestinal TNF-α and tight junction protein (ZO-1) proteins was detected by Western blot and/or immunohistochemistry. Serum DAO level and serum and intestinal TNF-α leves were signifi cantly increased after I/R, and the values were markedly reduced by curcumin pretreatment although still higher than that of sham group (p<0.05 or p<0.001). H&E staining showed the significant injury to intestinal mucosa following I/R, and curcumin pretreatment signifi cantly improved the histological structure of intestinal mucosa. I/R insult also induced significantly down-regulated expression of ZO-1, and the eff ect was dramatically attenuated by curcumin-pretreatment. Curcumin may protect the intestine from I/R injury through restoration of the epithelial structure, promotion of the recovery of intestinal permeability, as well as enhancement of ZO-1 protein expression, and this eff ect may be partly attributed to the TNF-α related pathway.

Keywords: Curcumin; Intestinal mucosa barrier; Intestinal permeability; Intestine; Ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury; Tight junction protein (ZO-1).

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST: No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Effect of curcumin pretreatment on the intestinal I/R injury.
Histopathological findings of H&E staining shows normal histopathology of the sham group (A), Intestinal I/R insult results in the denuded villi and architectural disintegration (B), Curcumin pretreatment partly ameliorates this I/R-induced damage to the intestinal tissue (C). I/R, ischemia reperfusion; H&E, Haematoxylin & Eosin.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. Effect of curcumin pretreatment on intestinal expression of TNF-α protein after I/R as determined by Western blot assay.
I/R, ischemia reperfusion; TNF-α, Tumor Necrosis Factor-α.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. Effect of curcumin pretreatment on intestinal expression of ZO-1 protein after I/R as determined by immunohistochemical assay.
ZO-1 expressions in intestinal tissues of the sham operated group (A), I/R injury group (B), and curcumin-pretreated I/R injury one (C). I/R, ischemia reperfusion; ZO-1, Zonula occludens protein-1.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4. Effect of curcumin pretreatment on intestinal expression of ZO-1 protein after I/R as determined by Western blot assay.
I/R, ischemia reperfusion; ZO-1, Zonula occludens protein-1.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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