Omega 3 and Curcumin For Nerve Repair - Journal Article

[nyt]

I ran across this journal article by accident. It was just published this week. I already take Omega 3 but will add Curcumin. Will give this to Dr. Howard and Dr. Hibner when I see both of them. The file is too big to upload so below is the link to the Journal of Neuroscience for downloading the whole article otherwise the abstract is below.

http://thejns.org/doi/abs/10.3171/2012.5.SPINE1216



Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine
Posted online on June 26, 2012.

Article
Dietary therapy to promote neuroprotection in chronic spinal cord injury

Laboratory investigation
Langston T. Holly, M.D.1,
Donald Blaskiewicz, M.D.1,
Aiguo Wu, Ph.D.2,
Cameron Feng, B.S.2,
Zhe Ying, B.S.2, and
Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, Ph.D.1,2


1Department of Neurosurgery, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; and 2Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, University of California, Los Angeles, California

Address correspondence to: Langston T. Holly, M.D., Department of Neurosurgery, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Center for the Health Sciences, Box 956901, Los Angeles, California 90095-6901. email: lholly@mednet.ucla.edu.

Abstract

Object

The pathogenesis of cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) is related to both primary mechanical and secondary biological injury. The authors of this study explored a novel, noninvasive method of promoting neuroprotection in myelopathy by using curcumin to minimize oxidative cellular injury and the capacity of omega-3 fatty acids to support membrane structure and improve neurotransmission.

Methods

An animal model of CSM was created using a nonresorbable expandable polymer placed in the thoracic epidural space, which induced delayed myelopathy. Animals that underwent placement of the expandable polymer were exposed to either a diet rich in docosahexaenoic acid and curcumin (DHA-Cur) or a standard Western diet (WD). Twenty-seven animals underwent serial gait testing, and spinal cord molecular assessments were performed after the 6-week study period.

Results

At the conclusion of the study period, gait analysis revealed significantly worse function in the WD group than in the DHA-Cur group. Levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), syntaxin-3, and 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) were measured in the thoracic region affected by compression and lumbar enlargement. Results showed that BDNF levels in the DHA-Cur group were not significantly different from those in the intact animals but were significantly greater than in the WD group. Significantly higher lumbar enlargement syntaxin-3 in the DHA-Cur animals combined with a reduction in lipid peroxidation (4-HNE) indicated a possible healing effect on the plasma membrane.

Conclusions

Data in this study demonstrated that DHA-Cur can promote spinal cord neuroprotection and neutralize the clinical and biochemical effects of myelopathy.

[deBBieW]

Interesting ..on a recent appt with my urogyno, one of her NPs sat down with me and suggested upping my omega 3 and adding turmeric capsules. This was mainly to reduce inflammation. I need to get the turmeric which I think is the same as curcumin?

Debbie

[Dave]

Interesting ..on a recent appt with my urogyno, one of her NPs sat down with me and suggested upping my omega 3 and adding turmeric capsules. This was mainly to reduce inflammation. I need to get the turmeric which I think is the same as curcumin?

Debbie

Hi Debbie,

Curcumin is the main anti-inflammatory compound in the spice turmeric, which is a component of Indian curries.

Has anyone gotten any definitive benefit from omega 3 or curcumin supplements? Has anyone gotten worse from them?

Dave

[helenlegs 11]

I take omega 3 every day (well most days) and am no better but it won't do any harm? (just make me clevera which can't be bad) Love spicy food so on to a winner there too.

[garth]

I used to take Omega 3 for intestinal inflammation, didn't know it has an effect on nerve repair too. I'll resume taking it.

A nutrition nugget that I recall, modern day diets have a much higher Omega 6: Omega 3 fatty acid ratio than is recommended. Excessive Omega 6 can lead to many diseases, inflammatory and autoimmune. So Omega 3 supplements is a good idea if your diet is skewed.

And turmeric is big in Indian cuisine like Dave said. If you ever see an Indian curry that's yellow, that's because of the turmeric. Sometimes I think its overdone but with all the benefits, guess its fine. Its a tradition here to drink turmeric in warm milk when somebody's ill or injured.

[HerMajesty]

I bought fish oil tablets which are 1200mg fish oil with 360mg omega 3 - anyone have an idea what daily dose is supposed to be productive to promote nerve healing? Also the curcumin is news to me today because I heard about the omega 3 from another source; but what would the daily dose of that be as well?

[Violet M]

I'm not sure exactly what they mean by an animal model in their particular research. It appears there were more variables than just curcumin in this study. The problem with taking curcumin orally is the bio-availability is low. (My son did his undergrad biochem research on this topic). Large amounts are safe but may be a waste of money unless you take some newly developed brand that has increased bioavailability but I don't know if that exists yet.

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/mp700113r

Bioavailability of Curcumin: Problems and Promises

Preetha Anand †, Ajaikumar B. Kunnumakkara †, Robert A. Newman ‡ and Bharat B. Aggarwal *†
Cytokine Research Laboratory and Pharmaceutical Development Center, Department of Experimental Therapeutics, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030
Mol. Pharmaceutics, 2007, 4 (6), pp 807–818
DOI: 10.1021/mp700113r
Publication Date (Web): November 14, 2007
Copyright © 2007 American Chemical Society

"Curcumin, a polyphenolic compound derived from dietary spice turmeric, possesses diverse pharmacologic effects including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiproliferative and antiangiogenic activities. Phase I clinical trials have shown that curcumin is safe even at high doses (12 g/day) in humans but exhibit poor bioavailability. Major reasons contributing to the low plasma and tissue levels of curcumin appear to be due to poor absorption, rapid metabolism, and rapid systemic elimination. To improve the bioavailability of curcumin, numerous approaches have been undertaken. These approaches involve, first, the use of adjuvant like piperine that interferes with glucuronidation; second, the use of liposomal curcumin; third, curcumin nanoparticles; fourth, the use of curcumin phospholipid complex; and fifth, the use of structural analogues of curcumin (e.g., EF-24). The latter has been reported to have a rapid absorption with a peak plasma half-life. Despite the lower bioavailability, therapeutic efficacy of curcumin against various human diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, arthritis, neurological diseases and Crohnʼs disease, has been documented. Enhanced bioavailability of curcumin in the near future is likely to bring this promising natural product to the forefront of therapeutic agents for treatment of human disease."