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REVIEW article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Neuropharmacology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1531288
This article is part of the Research Topic Targeting Neuroinflammation for Novel Therapeutics in Neurodegenerative Diseases View all 15 articles

Mechanistic insight of Curcumin: a potential pharmacological candidate for Epilepsy

Provisionally accepted
Saima Khatoon Saima Khatoon 1*Nida Kalam Nida Kalam 2
  • 1 University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
  • 2 Infection and Immunity Research Strength, Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University, Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Recurrent spontaneous seizures with an extended epileptic discharge are the hallmarks of epilepsy. At present, there are several available anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) in the market. Still no adequate treatment for epilepsy treatment is available. The main disadvantages of AEDs are their associated adverse effects. It is a challenge to develop new therapies that can reduce seizures by modulating the underlying mechanisms with no adverse effects. In the last decade, the neuromodulatory potential of phytoconstituents has sparked their usage in the treatment of central nervous system disorders.Curcumin is an active polyphenolic component that interacts at cellular and molecular levels.Curcumin's neuroprotective properties have been discovered in recent preclinical and clinical studies due to its immunomodulatory effects. Curcumin has the propensity to modulate signaling pathways involved in cell survival and manage oxidative stress, apoptosis, and inflammatory mechanisms.Further, curcumin can persuade epigenetic alterations, including histone modifications (acetylation/deacetylation), which are the changes responsible for the altered expression of genes facilitating the process of epileptogenesis. The bioavailability of curcumin in the brain is a concern that needs to be tackled. Therefore, nanonization has emerged as a novel drug delivery system to enhance the pharmacokinetics of curcumin. In the present review, we reviewed curcumin's modulatory effects on potential biomarkers involved in epileptogenesis including dendritic cells, T cell subsets, cytokines, chemokines, apoptosis mediators, antioxidant mechanisms, and cognition impairment. Also, we have discussed the nanocarrier systems for encapsulating curcumin, offering a promising approach to enhance bioavailability of curcumin.

    Keywords: curcumin; epilepsy, Inflammation, Apoptosis, Cognition, Oxidative Stress, epigenetics, Nanocarrier systems, Immunomodulatory effects

    Received: 20 Nov 2024; Accepted: 16 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Khatoon and Kalam. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Saima Khatoon, University of Maryland, Baltimore, 21201, Maryland, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.