TABLE 2. Parent and metabolite compounds in plasma and brain after chronic dietary administration.

Curcumin or TC in chow was fed to mice for 4-month duration at 500 ppm (~2.5 mg/day) or 2000 ppm (~10 mg/day). After sacrifice, plasma was collected, animals were perfused, and brains were removed. Plasma values were detected using HPLC, and the lower limits of detection for curcumin and TC were 35 and 8 ng/ml, respectively. Brain levels were measured using LC/MS/MS, and the lower limits of detection were 100 pg/g t for curcumin and 1 ng/g t for TC. Data represent mean ± S.D.

Dose Chow	PC	Plasma Curc	Plasma TC	Brain Curc	Brain TC	Brain-to-Plasma Ratio (PC)
		µg/ml or (µM)		µg/g t or (µM)
0 ppm	Con	N.D.	N.D.	N.D.	N.D.	N.A.
500 ppm	Curc	0.035 ± 0.014	0.008 ± 0.001	0.469 ± 0.220	0.097 ± 0.008	13.4
		(0.095 µM)	(0.023 µM)	(1.276 µM)	(0.264 µM)
2000 ppm	Curc	0.171 ± 0.019	0.042 ± 0.002	0.525 ± 0.125	0.052 ± 0.054	3.07
		(0.465 µM)	(0.115 µM)	(1.428 µM)	(0.143 µM)
500 ppm	TC	N.D.	0.270 ± 0.003	N.D.	0.128 ± 0.019	0.47
			(0.734 µM)		(0.344 µM)

N.A., not applicable; N.D., not detectable; t; wet tissue.