Abstract

CURCUMIN: A WONDER THERAPEUTICAL DRUG

Manish K Pant, Preeti Panthari, Amit Kharkwal, Harendra Kharkwal and*Harsha Kharkwal

ABSTRACT

Cur cumin is t he a ct ive ingr edient in t he t r adit io na l he r ba l r emed y a nd d ie t ar y sp ic e t urme ric (Curcuma longa). It has served an important role in many traditional cultures throughout the East, including being a revered member of the Ayurved. For the last few decades, extensive work has been done to establish the biological activities and pharmacological actions of turmeric and its extracts. Curcumin (diferuloylmethane), the main yellow bioactive component of turmeric has been shown to have a wide spectrum of biological actions. These include its antiinflammatory, antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, antimutagenic, antidiabetic, antibacterial, antifungal, antiprotozoal, antifibrotic, antiulcer, antiimunity and hypocholesteremic activities. At present the most important task for researchers, is to improve the bio-availability and stability of curcuminoids, inorder to create revolution in the field of medical science, therefore many synthetic analogue, nanocurcuminoids and similar compounds from plants are discovered and their properties, usefulness is compared with curcumin. Nanoparticles encapsulated curcumin like nanocurcumin are one of the major means that could be used to improve the bioavailability of curcumins.

Keywords: Curcumin, nanoparticle, bioavailability