Effect of curcumin on ICAMª²1 and relative serum indexes in rats with metabolic syndrome

    TAO Zhengª²Xian, LONG Mingª²Zhi, ZHAO Huiª²Juan, TAN Xiao, WANG Diª²Bin, TAO Liª²Cui

    Department of Cardiology, Second Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210011, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿AIM: To investigate the therapetutic effects of curcumin on metabolic syndrome (MS) in rats and the underlying mechanism. METHODS: Thirty SD male rats were randomly separated into 3 groups (n=10 in each one): control, model and curcumin groups. Rats in model and curcumin groups were treated with twoª²kidneys oneª²clipped to induce renal hypertension and fed with a high fructose diet for 4 week to induce MS. Shamª²operated rats were taken at random as nonª²infarction control. After intragastric administration of either curcumin (200 mg/kg¡¤d) in curcumin group or saline (200 mg/kg¡¤d) in model and control groups for 4 weeks, serum glucose, insulin and lipid were tested. The sICAMª²1 level was measured by ELISA and ICAMª²1 mRNA level in artery was tested by RTª²PCR. RESULTS: Compared with controls, rats in model group had higher levels of sICAMª²1, serum glucose, insulin, lipid (P<0.01), and curcumin restored these indexes. The ICAMª²1 mRNA expression in model group was higher than that in shamª²operated rats (P<0.01); while in curcumin group, ICAMª²1 mRNA level was comparable to that in control group (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Curcumin reduces serum glucose, insulin and lipid of MS rats and it may be related to the suppression of ICAMª²1 mRNA expression and the improvement of blood vessel endothelium function. ......