Abstract
Curcumin is a natural polyphenol isolated from the rhizome of Curcuma longa with recognised therapeutic potential, namely as an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer, and antidiabetic agent. Despite its potential biological properties, the low bioavailability of curcumin hinders its systemic effects. Recently, it was reported that the combination of curcumin with piperine increases their biological potential (e.g. antioxidant activity), by enhancing curcumin’s bioavailability. However, it is not known whether the two compounds have a direct synergic effect. In this study, we evaluated and compared the scavenging activity of physiological relevant reactive species by commercial curcumin extract, commercial piperine extract and their combination, using in vitro non-cellular and cellular systems. The obtained results revealed that the commercial curcumin extract scavenges hypochlorous acid and nitric oxide, while no scavenging effect was found against superoxide anion radical and hydrogen peroxide. The commercial curcumin extract also proved to be an effective inhibitor of neutrophils’ oxidative burst. Commercial piperine extract per se did not display any activity. Nevertheless, the obtained results for the combination of commercial curcumin extract with commercial piperine extract (1%) suggest that the commercial piperine extract potentiates the effects exerted by the commercial curcumin extract.
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Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge Centro Hospitalar do Porto-Hospital de Santo António blood bank- Serviço de Hematologia Clínica, for the collaboration in the recruitment of blood donors to participate in the study. This work received financial support from PT national funds (FCT/MCTES, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior) through the project UIDB/50006/2020 and from the European Union (FEDER funds through the Operational Competitiveness Program (COMPETE2020) POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029253—Project PTDC/MED-QUI/29253/2017). Marisa Freitas acknowledges the financial support from the European Union (FEDER funds through COMPETE POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029248). Jadriane A. Xavier, Fabiana A. Moura, Marília O. F. Goulart acknowledge the Research Support Foundation of Alagoas State (FAPEAL) and also the joint financial support from the Brazilian Health Ministry and FAPEAL, through the grant PPSUS number 60030-000876/2016.
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Lucas, M., Freitas, M., Xavier, J.A. et al. The scavenging effect of curcumin, piperine and their combination against physiological relevant reactive pro-oxidant species using in vitro non-cellular and cellular models. Chem. Pap. 75, 5269–5277 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11696-021-01710-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11696-021-01710-y