Bioavailability of curcumin in the rat frontal lobe and hippocampus after repeated administration of MERIVA®

Curcumin, a polyphenol extracted from the rhizome of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.), is considered the component responsible for the different biological activities of turmeric. However, given the limited bioavailability of this molecule, different formulations have been prepared. One of these is MERIVA®, wherein curcumin is present in a complex with phosphatidylcholine. To the best of our knowledge, only one study [1] evaluated the peripheral bioavailability of MERIVA®, and a lack of information exists on its distribution within the brain. On these bases, the aim of our study was to evaluate the bioavailability of curcumin in the rat frontal lobe and hippocampus after a sub-chronic treatment with MERIVA®. Specifically, adult male rats received MERIVA® by oral gavage (134 mg/kg/die as curcuminoids equivalent) for 5 days in comparison with a single administration setting and the concentration of curcumin was assessed in the brain tissues at several time points (30 min, 1h, 2h and 3h) by using liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). These analyses were paralleled by the assessment of curcumin and its metabolite curcumin-glucuronide at plasma levels. After repeated MERIVA® administration, curcumin reached the brain with a specific temporal profile. In particular, in the frontal lobe it was already present after 30 min (9 pg/mg), peaked at 1h (20 pg/mg) and tended towards normalization after 3h (2 pg/mg). Conversely, only very low levels of curcumin were found after acute administration. These results support the use of curcumin in brain diseases and add important information on the bioavailability of one of its formulations.

Keywords: MERIVA®, curcumin, CNS, bioavailability.

References:

[1] Marczylo Marczylo, TH, Verschoyle RD, Cooke DN, Morazzoni P, Steward WP, Gescher AJ. Comparison of systemic availability of curcumin with that of curcumin formulated with phosphatidylcholine. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 2007; 60: 171 – 177