Page 42 - product-manual

TM/MC TM/MC
PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES - TOXICOLOGY - DRUG INTERACTIONS

Curcuma longa (Turmeric)

The use of Rhizoma Curcumae Longae has been described in pharmacopoeias and in traditional
systems of medicine in the treatment of conditions associated with pain and inflammation such
as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, peptic ulcers, dysmenorrhoea, asthma and hepatitis. The
anti-inflammatory activity of Rhizoma Curcumae Longae has also been demonstrated in animal
models (WHO, 1999). Curcumin and its derivatives are the active anti-inflammatory constituents
of Rhizoma Curcumae Longae (Masuda et al., 1993). The anti-inflammatory activity of
curcumin may be due to its ability to scavenge oxygen radicals (Kunchandy & Rao, 1990) and
in regulation of inflammatory cytokines such as tumour necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-1 and
interleukin-6 (Zhou et al., 2011). In a clinical study, administration of curcumin to obese cats
improved the obesity-related inflammatory state which could be attributed to anti-inflammatory
properties of curcumin (Leray et al., 2011).

Toxicity for Rhizoma Curcumae Longae has not been documented in dogs and cats when administered orally in
therapeutic doses. Feeding pups with Rhizoma Curcumae Longae 500 mg/kg of body weight for 3 months was
TOXICOLOGY found to be safe with no toxicity (WHO, 1980). Oral LD of Rhizoma Curcumae Longae is >1,000 mg/kg of body
50
weight in rats (Pandey, 2011).

Equivalent toxic dose in 20 kg dog: >20,000 mg PO of Rhizoma Curcumae Longae.
Equivalent toxic dose in 5 kg cat: >5,000 mg PO of Rhizoma Curcumae Longae.

DRUG In animal studies, pretreatment with curcumin, a major active component of Rhizoma Curcumae
INTERACTIONS Longae resulted in increased plasma elimination half-life of the broad-spectrum antibacterial
agent norfloxacin, thereby reducing the dosage of the drug (Pavithra et al., 2009).

Curcumin has been shown to down-regulate intestinal P-Glycoprotein levels, thereby increasing
the concentration of celiprolol (beta blocker) and midazolam (benzodiazepine) in rats (Zhang
et al., 2007).
Curcumin may enhance the effect and decrease the toxicity of the antifungal drug amphotericin
B in vitro (Kudva et al., 2011).
Curcumin could enhance the effects of the chemotherapeutic agents such as mitomycin C
(Ko et al., 2011) and cisplatin (Tsai et al., 2011) in vitro.

Rhizoma Curcumae Longae inhibits camptothecin, mechlorethamine, and doxorubicin-induced
apoptosis of breast cancer cell lines in vitro (Somasundaram et al., 2002).

Rhizoma Curcumae Longae may increase the risk of bleeding when taken together with
anticoagulants/antiplatelet drugs (Brinker, 1998).

Antitis-VM TM | 7