Re: Re[2]: Re: Curcumin- Rec'd this moments ago

[Guest guest]

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Revered in India as " holy powder, " the

marigold-colored spice known as turmeric has been used for centuries to

treat wounds, infections and other health problems. In recent years,

research into the healing powers of turmeric's main ingredient,

curcumin, has burgeoned, as its astonishing array of antioxidant,

anti-cancer, antibiotic, antiviral and other properties has been revealed.

Yet little has been known about exactly how curcumin works inside the body.

Now, University of Michigan researchers led by Ayyalusamy Ramamoorthy

have discovered that curcumin acts as a disciplinarian, inserting itself

into cell membranes and making them more orderly, a move that improves

cells' resistance to infection and malignancy.

" The membrane goes from being crazy and floppy to being more disciplined

and ordered, so that information flow through it can be controlled, "

said Ramamoorthy, a professor of chemistry and biophysics. The findings

were published online March 3 in the Journal of the American Chemical

Society.

The research project melds Ramamoorthy's past with his current

scientific interests. As a child in India, he was given turmeric-laced

milk to drink when he had a cold, and he breathed steam infused with

turmeric to relieve congestion. Now as researcher he is fascinated with

proteins that are associated with biological membranes, and he uses a

technique called solid-state NMR spectroscopy to reveal atom-level

details of these important molecules and the membranous milieu in which

they operate.

" Probing high-resolution intermolecular interactions in the messy

membrane environment has been a major challenge to commonly-used

biophysical techniques, " Ramamoorthy said. His research group recently

developed the two-dimensional solid-state NMR technique that they used

to probe curcumin-membrane communication in this study.

Scientists have speculated that curcumin does its health-promoting work

by interacting directly with membrane proteins, but the U-M findings

challenge that notion. Instead, the researchers found that curcumin

regulates the action of membrane proteins indirectly, by changing the

physical properties of the membrane.

Ramamoorthy's group now is collaborating with chemistry professor Masato

Koreeda and U-M Life Sciences Institute researcher Gestwicki to

study a variety of curcumin derivatives, some of which have enhanced

potency. " We want to see how these various derivatives interact with the

membrane, to see if the interactions are the same as what we have

observed in the current study, " Ramamoorthy said. " Such a comparative

study could lead to the development of potent compounds to treat

infection and other diseases. "

In a related line of research, Ramamoorthy's team is using the same

methods to investigate the effects of curcumin on the formation of

amyloids---clumps of fibrous protein believed to be involved in type 2

diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and many other

maladies. In addition, the researchers are looking to see whether other

natural products, such as polyphenols (compounds found in many plant

foods that are known to have antioxidant properties) and capsaicin (a

pain reliever derived from hot peppers), interact with membranes in the

same way as curcumin.

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Along with Ramamoorthy, the paper's authors are undergraduates

Barry and Fritz, post-doctoral fellow Brender, graduate

student Pieter and a visiting professor from South Korea, Dong-Kuk

Lee.

This research was supported by funding from the National Institutes of

Health.

For more information on Ramamoorthy, visit:

http://www.ns.umich.edu/htdocs/public/experts/ExpDisplay.php?ExpID=1170

Journal of the American Chemical Society: http://pubs.acs.org/journal/jacsat