Curcumin, the main active constituent of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.), induces apoptosis in hepatic stellate cells by modulating the abundance of apoptosis-related growth factors

Ya-Jun He, Kenny Kuchta, Xia Lv, Yu Lin, Guo-Rong Ye, Xu-You Liu, Hui-Dong Song, Le-Xin Wang, Yuta Kobayashi, Jian-Chang Shu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In order to elucidate the mechanism of action ofcurcumin against hepatic fibrosis, cultured rat hepatic stellatecells (HSC) (HSC-T6) were incubated with curcumin for24 h, after which apoptosis was measured by flow-cytometry.The protein levels of the pro-apoptotic factors Fas andp53b as well as of the anti-apoptotic factor Bcl-2 were monitoredby immunocytochemical ABC staining after incubationwith curcumin for 24 h. In the case of 20 µM curcumin,not only was the respective apoptosis index increased, butalso the abundance of the pro-apoptotic factors Fas andp53 were amplified, whereas that of the anti-apoptoticfactor Bcl-2 decreased. All these effects were highly reproducible (P<0.05). Consequently, curcumin has an up-regulating effect on pro-apoptotic factors like Fas and p53 as well as a down-regulating effect of the anti-apoptotic factor Bcl-2, thus inducing apoptosis in HSC.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)281-285
Number of pages5
JournalZeitschrift fur Naturforschung - Section C Journal of Biosciences
Volume70
Issue number11-12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2015

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