Curcumin: From a controversial "panacea" to effective antineoplastic products.

BACKGROUND: Curcumin, a controversial "panacea," has been broadly studied. Its bioactivities including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and especially antineoplastic activities have been documented. However, due to its extensive bioactivities, some scientists hold a skeptical point of view toward curcumin and described curcumin as a "deceiver" to chemists. The objective of this study was to explore curcumin's another possibility as a potential supplementary leading compound to cancer treatments. METHODS: Literature searches were conducted using electronic databases. Search terms such as "curcumin," "curcumin analogues," and so on were used. The literatures were collected and summarized. In this article, reported targets of curcumin are reviewed. The limitations of a curcumin as a therapeutic anticancer product including low bioavailability and poor targeting are mentioned. Furthermore, modified curcumin analogues and antitumor mechanisms are listed and discussed in the aspects of cell death and tumor microenvironment including angiogenesis, tissue hypoxia status, and energy metabolism. RESULTS: Several possible modification strategies were presented by analyzing the relationships between the antitumor activity of curcumin analogues and their structural characteristics, including the introduction of hydrophilic group, shortening of redundant hydrocarbon chain, the introduction of extra chemical group, and so on. CONCLUSIONS: From our perspective, after structural modification curcumin could be more effective complementary product for cancer therapies by the enhancement of targeting abilities and the improvement of bioavailability.

[The effect of fluoride on the metabolism of teeth and bone in rats].

PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of fluoride on the metabolism of teeth and bone in rats, and to probe the mechanism of pathogenesis of dental fluorosis. METHODS: A total of 48 Wistar rats were randomly and equally divided into 4 groups including control group (distilled water), low-dose group(NaF,50 mg/L), medium-dose group (NaF,100 mg/L) and high-dose group (NaF, 150 mg/L). After 8 weeks, the rats were sacrificed under anesthesia, and serums were collected. The biochemical technique was used to test serum calcium. Changes in the fluorine content in serums and teeth of each group were analyzed with fluoride ion selective electrode method. Radioimmunoassay was employed to detect the levels of osteocalcin (OC), parathormone (PTH) and calcitonin (CT), respectively. SPSS13.0 software package was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The fluorine content in serum and teeth in the fluoride group were significantly higher than that of the control group (P<0.05), and increased with the increasing concentrations (F value was 11.234 and 275.148 respectively, P<0.01). The level of calcium in serum (F=3.906, P<0.05) in the fluoride group was significantly lower than in the control group. The level of PTH and OC in serum in medium and high-dose group were significantly higher than in the control group (P<0.01), with the level of CT in high-dose group decreased significantly (P<0.01). The differences of the level of OC, PTH, CT between groups were significant (F value was 8.548, 3.801 and 5.121 respectively, P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Fluoride affects the metabolism of teeth and bone in rats and OC, PTH, CT plays a key role in the pathogenesis of dental fluorosis.