Curcumin is a compound whose anti-ischemic properties are well established in previous works. This study investigates the effect of curcumin on four marker enzymes for ischemia whose activities increase in ischemic conditions.Animals were classified into three groups. Group 1 was kept as sham-operated control. Groups 1 and 2 were induced cerebral ischemia by Bilateral Common Carotid Artery Occlusion for 30 min followed by reperfusion for three hours. Group 3 was treated orally with aqueous curcumin suspension (100 mg kg-1 of body weight) 24h prior to ischemic insult.Mitochondrial and cytosolic fractions were separated from a portion of the total brain extract. Levels of the products of lipid peroxidation (LPO) and the activity levels of each of the three ROS inhibiting enzymes were measured for each fraction of the extract.Baseline levels of LPO and the inhibiting enzymes’ activities were significantly elevated in group 2 vs. group1 (P<0.05) after ischemic insult. In group 3 animals, neither of the four enzyme activities reported an increase as great as observed in group 2.Only in case of NADH Oxidase and Succinate Dehydrogenase enzymes did their activity levels fall below the baseline, after curcumin treatment.Curcumin helps to significantly check the ROS production in both cytosolic and mitochondrial fractions. The result may indicate a significant prospective role of curcumin to play in designing future management regimen towards cerebral ischemia in human beings; only after devising a perfect dose of the said drug.
