A newly designed curcumin analog Y20 mitigates cardiac injury via anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant actions in obese rats.

Yuanyuan Qian, Peng Zhong, Dandan Liang, Zheng Xu, Melissa Skibba, Chunlai Zeng, Xiaokun Li, Tiemin Wei, Lianpin Wu, Guang Liang

Index: PLoS ONE 10(3) , e0120215, (2015)

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Abstract

Obesity is strongly associated with the cause of structural and functional changes of the heart in both human and animal models. Oxidative stress and inflammation play a critical role in the development of obesity-induced cardiac disorders. Curcumin is a natural product from Curcuma Longa with multiple bioactivities. In our previous study, in order to reach better anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant dual activities, we designed a new mono-carbonyl curcumin analog, Y20, via the structural modification with both trifluoromethyl and bromine. This study was designed to investigate the protective effects of Y20 on obesity-induced cardiac injury and its underlying mechanisms. In high fat diet-fed rats, oral administration of Y20 at 20 mg/kg or curcumin at 50 mg/kg significantly decreased the cardiac inflammation and oxidative stress and eventually improved the cardiac remodeling by mitigating cardiac disorganization, hypertrophy, fibrosis and apoptosis. Y20 at 20 mg/kg showed comparable and even stronger bioactivities than curcumin at 50 mg/kg. The beneficial actions of Y20 are closely associated with its ability to increase Nrf2 expression and inhibit NF-κB activation. Taken together, these results suggest that Y20 may have a great therapeutic potential in the treatment of obesity-induced cardiac injury using Nrf2 and NF-κB as the therapeutic targets for treating obesity-related disorders.