Correlations between morphological changes induced by curcumin and its biological activities

Vol. 59 No. 1, 2018

ROMANIAN JOURNAL of MORPHOLOGY and EMBRYOLOGY

Laura Stoica, Bogdan Alexandru Stoica, Doinita Olinici, Pavel Onofrei, Emanuela Ana Botez, Carmen Elena Cotrutz

Curcumin is a phytochemical polyphenol extracted from turmeric rhizome, with multiple biological activities, intensively studied in various therapeutic areas. Its effects covers a wide range of specialties, from the neuroprotective to the antimetastatic properties, influencing pathologies from cardiovascular, neuronal and oncological fields, as a part of its broad spectrum of action. These effects are explained by antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticarcinogenic simultaneous roles of curcumin and its derivatives. In this review, we selected the information about morphological evidences correlated with the biological effects on the following organ systems: the central nervous system (including neurological pathology, such as Parkinson s and Alzheimer s disease), the cardiovascular system (including disorders like atherosclerosis, endothelial dysfunction and drug-induced myotoxicity), multiple forms of cancer, and metabolic syndromes including diabetes. The central point of this review was to target a variety of morphological changes at microscopic level induced by curcumin, using different microscopy techniques.

Corresponding author: Bogdan Alexandru Stoica, Associate Professor, MD, PhD; e-mail: bogstoica@gmail.com

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