Curcumin Treatment Improves Motor Behavior in α-Synuclein Transgenic Mice

PLoS One. 2015 Jun 2;10(6):e0128510. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0128510. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

The curry spice curcumin plays a protective role in mouse models of neurodegenerative diseases, and can also directly modulate aggregation of α-synuclein protein in vitro, yet no studies have described the interaction of curcumin and α-synuclein in genetic synucleinopathy mouse models. Here we examined the effect of chronic and acute curcumin treatment in the Syn-GFP mouse line, which overexpresses wild-type human α-synuclein protein. We discovered that curcumin diet intervention significantly improved gait impairments and resulted in an increase in phosphorylated forms of α-synuclein at cortical presynaptic terminals. Acute curcumin treatment also caused an increase in phosphorylated α-synuclein in terminals, but had no direct effect on α-synuclein aggregation, as measured by in vivo multiphoton imaging and Proteinase-K digestion. Using LC-MS/MS, we detected ~5 ng/mL and ~12 ng/mL free curcumin in the plasma of chronic or acutely treated mice, with a glucuronidation rate of 94% and 97%, respectively. Despite the low plasma levels and extensive metabolism of curcumin, these results show that dietary curcumin intervention correlates with significant behavioral and molecular changes in a genetic synucleinopathy mouse model that mimics human disease.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / pharmacology*
  • Behavior, Animal / drug effects*
  • Blotting, Western
  • Chromatography, Liquid
  • Curcumin / pharmacology*
  • Dementia / drug therapy*
  • Dementia / pathology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Immunoenzyme Techniques
  • Lewy Bodies / drug effects*
  • Lewy Bodies / pathology
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Motor Activity / drug effects*
  • Phosphorylation / drug effects
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry
  • alpha-Synuclein / physiology*

Substances

  • Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal
  • SNCA protein, human
  • alpha-Synuclein
  • Curcumin