Abstract

A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW ON CURCUMIN – A MULTI EDGED SWORD

 ^*Avinash Rangaraju¹, Pragna Karipe²

Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Scient Institute of Pharmacy, Ibrahimpatnam,Khanapur village, Hyderabad- 501 506 A.P- India.

ABSTRACT

Curcumin (diferuloyl methane) is a well known dietary yellowpigment derived from curcuma longa belonging to the family zingiberaceae. It is a polyphenolic compound used as a food spice and has a broad spectrum of antioxidant, anti-carcinogenic, anti-mutagenic and anti-inflammatory properties. In the recent research findings of curcumin, it was found that it can also eliminate 3% of cancer stem cells present inside the malignant tumour and remaining 97% of cancer cells undergo gradual cell shrinkage which ultimately leads to cell death. Pharmacologically, curcumin has been found to be safe. Human clinical trials indicated no dose-limiting toxicity when administered at doses up to 10 g/day. All of these studies suggest that curcumin has enormous potential in the prevention and therapy of various diseases. The current review describes in detail the data supporting these studies.

Keywords: Curcumin, cancer stem cell, Cytomorphology, Micrometry, bioavailability, Crohns disease, Ulcerative colitis.