| Introduction: |
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| Turmeric is native to south Asia, especially India, but is cultivated in many of the warmer regions of the world. It is found in all states of India but particularly in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Maharashtra. In Ayurvedic practices, turmeric is thought to have many medicinal properties and many in South Asia use it as a readily available antiseptic for cuts, burns and bruises. It is also used as an antibacterial agent. Traditionally it is been also used as blood purifier, anti-inflammatory agent, analgesic in arthritis and rheumatism. There are numbers of uses of turmeric that has been documented. |
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| Major Chemical Constituents: |
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| Phenylpropanoids, Monoterpemes, Glycans, Sequiterpenes are some of the major components of turmeric. |
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| Pharmacological Actions |
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Anti-inflammatory Effects:1,2,3,4
The volatile oils and curcumin of Curcuma longa exhibit potent anti-inflammatory effects. Oral administration of curcumin in instances of acute inflammation was found to be as effective as cortisone or phenylbutazone, and one-half as effective in cases of chronic inflammation. In rats with Freud's adjuvant-induced arthritis, oral administration of Curcuma longa significantly reduced inflammatory swelling compared to controls. In monkeys, curcumin was shown to inhibit neutrophil aggregation associated with inflammation. C. longa's anti-inflammatory properties may be attributed to its ability to inhibit pro-inflammatory arachidonic acid, as well as neutrophil function during inflammatory states. Curcumin may also be applied topically to animal skin to counteract inflammation and irritation associated with inflammatory skin conditions and allergies. |
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Analgesic activity: 5
Both aqueous and alcoholic extracts at 100 and 200 mg/kg by oral, single dose treatment for seven days revealed significant difference (P<0.05, 0.01) in reaction time in terms of analgesic activity before and after treatments which was comparable to analgin (10 mg/kg b wt.) and were ineffective in reversal of brewers yeast induced pyrexia. |
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Improvement of joint movement: 6
The studies suggest that curcumin and to a lesser extent quercetin may offer therapeutic potential for the treatment of crystal-induced arthritis or rheumatoid arthritis." |
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Immunomodulator: 7,8
In another study curcumin, present in Curcuma longa, was analysed for the immunomodulatory activity in Balb/c mice. Curcumin administration was found to increase the total WRC count. Curcumin increased the circulating antibody titre against SRBC. Curcumin administration increased the plaque forming cells (PFC) in the spleen and the maximum number of PFC was observed. Bone marrow cellularity and alpha-esterase positive cells were also enhanced by Curcumin administration. A significant increase in macrophage phagocytic activity was also observed in Curcumin treated animals. These results indicated the immunostimulatory activity of Curcumin. Curcumin also exhibits a variety of pharmacological effects including antitumor, anti-inflammatory, and anti-infectious activities and is currently employed in clinical trials for AIDS patients. The present data suggested that HIV-1 integrase inhibition may contribute to the antiviral activity of curcumin. These observations suggested new strategies for antiviral drug development that could be based upon curcumin as a lead compound for the development of inhibitors of HIV-1 integrase. |
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Antimicrobial activity: 9,10,11
It has been reported that the alcohol extract and essential oil from Curcuma Longa showed bactericidal activity whereas curcumin reacted as a bacterio-static-agent with respect to staphylocicci. The in vitro screening of the oil against some representative bacteria and fungi including plant and human pathogens showed that the oil has potent anti-microbial effect. |
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Antioxidant: 12,13
Various extracts of the rizome are active as antioxidants and the cucuminoids are the main active compounds. Curcumin was the most potent when tested against air oxidatioin of linoleic acid and showed better activity than dI-a-tocopherol at the same concentration. |
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| Herb Drug interactions:14 |
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| Turmeric may increase the risk of bleeding or potentiate the effects of warfarin therapy. Use caution when taking turmeric if indigestion occurs or if you suffer from liver problems or gallbladder disease. |
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| Safety: 15 |
The use is contraindicated in biliary obstruction, duodenal and gastric ulcers. Use with caution during pregnancy. It can cause contact allergy. The LD50 of turmeric was 500mg/kg when given IP to adult mice and more than 2.0g/kg when given oral. |
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| Reference |
| 1 |
Chandra D, Gupta S. Anti-inflammatory and anti-arthritic activity of volatile oil of Curcuma longa (Haldi). Ind J Med Res 1972;60:138-142. |
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| 2 |
Arora R, Basu N, Kapoor V, et al. Anti-inflammatory studies on Curcuma longa (turmeric). Ind J Med Res 1971;59:1289-1295. |
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| 3 |
Mukhopadhyay A, Basu N, Ghatak N, et al. Anti-inflammatory and irritant activities of curcumin analogues in rats. Agents Actions 1982;12:508-515. |
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| 4 |
Srivastava R. Inhibition of neutrophil response by curcumin. Agents Actions 1989;28:298-303. |
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| 5 |
Neha S, Ranvir GD and Jangade CR, Analgesic and antipyretic activities of Curcuma longa rhizome extracts in Wister Rats, Veterinary World, Vol.2(8):304-306. |
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| 6 |
Jackson JK, Higo T, Hunter WL, Burt HM., The antioxidants curcumin and quercetin inhibit inflammatory processes associated with arthritis., Inflamm Res. 2006 Apr;55(4):168-75. |
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| 7 |
Antony S, Kuttan R, Kuttan G. Immunomodulatory activity of curcumin. Immunol Invest 1999, Sep-Dec; 28(5-6):291-303 |
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| 8 |
Mazumder A, Raghavan K, Weinstein J, Kohn KW, Pommier Y. Inhibition of human immunodeficiency virus type-1 integrase by curcumin. Biochem Pharmacol, 1995 Apr 18;49(8):1165-70 |
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| 9 |
Lutomski-J, Kedzia-B; Debska-W; Effect of an alcohol extract and of active ingredients from Curcuma Longa on bacteria and Fungi; Plant-Med-1974; 26(1): 9-19. |
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| 10 |
Banerjee-A; Nigam-SS, Antibacterial efficacy of the essential of Curcuma Longa Ind-J-Med-Res 1978; 68: 864-6. |
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| 11 |
Banerjee-A; Nigam-SS; Kaul-VK, Antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of Curcuma aromatica, Salisb. Ind-Perfum-1978. 22(2): 69-72. |
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| 12 |
Shalini VK, Srinivas L. Lipid peroxide induced DNA damage: protection by turmeric (Curcuma longa). Mol Cell Biochem 1987 Sep; 77(1):3-10 |
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| 13 |
Toda S, Miyase T, Arichi H, Tanizawa H, Takino Y 1985 Natural antioxidants. III. Antioxidayive components isolated from rhizome of Cucuma longa. Chemical and Pharma Bulletin 33:1725 |
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| 14 |
Heck AM, DeWitt BA, Lukes AL. Potential interactions between alternative therapies and warfarin. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2000 Jul 1;57(13):1221-7; quiz 1228-30 |
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| 15 |
Dhar ML, Dhar MM, Dhawan BN, Mehrotra BN, Ray C 1968 Screening of Indian plants for biological activity: part I. Indian J. of Experimental Biology 6:232 |
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