title: Therapeutic advantages of treatment of high-dose curcumin in the ovariectomized rat.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although curcumin has a protective effect on bone remodeling, appropriate therapeutic concentrations of curcumin are not well known as therapeutic drugs for osteoporosis. The purpose of this study was to compare the bone sparing effect of treatment of low-dose and high-dose curcumin after ovariectomy in rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty female Sprague-Dawley rats underwent either a sham operation (the sham group) or bilateral ovariectomy (OVX). The ovariectomized animals were randomly distributed among three groups; untreated OVX group, low-dose (10 mg/kg) curcumin administered group, and high-dose (50 mg/kg) curcumin group. At 4 and 8 weeks after surgery, serum biochemical markers of bone turnover were analyzed. Bone histomorphometric parameters of the 4th lumbar vertebrae were determined by micro-computed tomography (CT). In addition, mechanical strength was determined by a three-point bending test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  High-dose curcumin group showed significantly lower osteocalcin, alkaline phosphatase, and the telopeptide fragment of type I collagen C-terminus concentration at 4 and 8 weeks compared with the untreated OVX group as well as low-dose curcumin group. In the analyses of micro-CT scans of 4th lumbar vertebrae, the high-dose curcumin treated group showed a significant increase in bone mineral densities (p=0.028) and cortical bone mineral densities (p=0.036) compared with the low-dose curcumin treated group. Only high-dose curcumin treated group had a significant increase of mechanical strength compared with the untreated OVX group (p=0.015).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study results demonstrat that a high-dose curcumin has therapeutic advantages over a low-dose curcumin of an antiresorptive effect on bone remodeling and improving bone mechanical strength.
authors: Department of Neurosurgery, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.
authors: Dae-Chul
authors: DC
authors: Cho
authors: Department of Neurosurgery, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.
authors: Hyun-Sik
authors: HS
authors: Jung
authors: Department of Neurosurgery, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.
authors: Kyoung-Tae
authors: KT
authors: Kim
authors: Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, School of Dentistry, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.
authors: Younghoon
authors: Y
authors: Jeon
authors: Department of Neurosurgery, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.
authors: Joo-Kyung
authors: JK
authors: Sung
authors: Department of Neurosurgery, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.
authors: Jeong-Hyun
authors: JH
authors: Hwang
keywords: Curcumin; Micro-computed tomography; Osteoporosis; Ovariectomy; Rat