Table 5.
Effects of curcumin on postoperative and preemptive analgesia.
| Animals (Sex, Strain) | Dose (mg/kg), Route of Administration, Duration of Treatment | Effects | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Behavioral/Other | Histopathological/ Biochemical/Molecular |
|||
| Postoperative Pain | ||||
| Male Sprague-Dawley rats | Incision + curcumin (0.01, 0.03, or 0.1 mg, i.t.) | ↓ Mechanical hypersensitivity (von Frey) Antagonists GABA-A (bicuculline) and GABA-B (saclofen) X antinociceptive activity Antagonists mu (CTOP), delta (naltrindole), and kappa (GNTI) opioid receptor X antinociceptive activity |
↑ mRNA expressions of GABA-A and GABA-B in incised spinal cord O mRNA expressions of opioid receptors in incised spinal cord |
[173] |
| Male C57BL/6 mice | Incision + curcumin (50 mg/kg, i.p., 4 days) | ↓ Mechanical hypersensitivity (von Frey) ↓ Thermal hypersensitivity (Hargreaves test) ↓ Prostaglandin-induced hyperalgesic priming O Paw edema (laser sensor technique) and hindpaw temperature (fine wire thermocouple) O Morphine-induced place preference (affective component of incision measured by conditioned CPP) X Functional abnormalities in gait indices (gait analysis) |
O IL-1β, IL-6, macrophage inflammatory protein-1α at peri-incisional level O IL-10 at peri-incisional level ↑ TGF-β levels at peri-incisional level |
[171] |
| Male Sprague-Dawley rats | Acute treatment: Incision + curcumin (10–40 mg/kg, oral, 1 day after surgery) Repeated treatment: Incision + curcumin (10–40 mg/kg, oral, 20 min before to surgery and twice daily for 7 days) Repeated treatment before surgery: Curcumin (10–40 mg/kg, oral, twice daily for 7 days before surgery) + incision |
Acute treatment ↓ Mechanical hyperalgesia (von Frey) Repeated treatment before surgery O Mechanical hyperalgesia Repeated treatment ✓ Mechanical hyperalgesia Repeated treatment ✓ Recovery from surgery Repeated treatment before surgery O recovery rate O Locomotor activity (YLS-1B apparatus) |
Not tested | [170] |
| Preemptive Analgesia | ||||
| Common crossbred swine | Curcumin [(130 mg/kg, oral, 3 days prior to CPB and extracorporeal support surgery | Not tested | ↓ Concentrations of IL-6, TNF-α, and ICAM-1 | [174] |
| Male Wistar Bratislava Albino rats | Nitroglycerin (NTG) (1 mg/100 g body weight i.p.) + curcumin (10 mg/100 g body weight, i.p., 14 days before NTG administration) | ↓ Number of flinches and shakes (formalin test) | ↓ Blood pressure ↓ MDA, NO, TOS, and thiol compound ↑ TAC |
[175] |
| Female Wistar Albino rats | Curcumin (400 mg/kg, oral, 45 min before formalin injection) | ↓ Thermal pain (hotplate test) ↓ Number of flinches (formalin test) |
Not tested | [176] |
Behavioral modalities are mentioned within parentheses. ✓ = improve, facilitate; ↓ = alleviate/decrease/attenuate; O = no effects/no alteration; X = abrogate/prevent; CPB = cardiopulmonary bypass; CPP = conditioned placed preference; GABA = gamma-Aminobutyric acid; ICAM-1 = intercellular adhesion molecule 1; IL-1β = interleukin-1β; IL-6 = interleukin 6; i.p. = intraperitoneal; i.t. = intrathecal; MDA = malondialdehyde; mRNA = messenger RNA; TAC = total antioxidative capacity; TGF-β = transforming growth factorβ; TNF-α = tumor necrosis factor alpha; TOS = total oxidative status.