Abstract:

Abstract:Objective
To investigate  the influence of curcumin in caspase-3,9 and livin expressions in brain tissue of iron load mice ,and to exlore the protection mechanisms of curcumin on iron ion-induced toxic effects of central nervous system.Methods According to the double blind method,CD1 mice were randomly divided  into  control group,FeCl3 group and curcumin intervention group (n=10).The mouse brain tissues in three groups  were conducted with Nissl staining and  immunohistochemical staining, and the expressions of caspase-3,caspase-9 and livin were detected with Western blotting method.Results The Nissl staining results showed that compared with control group,the neurons of the mice in FeCl3 group were lost and existed  nuclear condensation and fragmentation in hippocampus,but they  were weaken after injection with curcumin.Compared with control group,the expression levels of caspase-3 and caspase-9 protein in brain tissue of mice were significantly increased and the expression levels of livin protein was decreased in  FeCl3 group(P<0.05).Compared with FeCl3 group,the expression levels of caspase-3 and caspase-9 protein were reduced and the livin protein expression level was increased in  curcumin group(P<0.05).Conclusion Curcumin can significantly inhibit the neurotoxicity of iron ions,the mechanism may be related to  inhibiting caspase-3 and caspase-9  in the apoptosis pathway and activating  the apoptosis-inhibited  factor  livin expression.

Key words: curcumin, iron ion, nerve cell, toxic actions