Nutrigenomic influence of a curcumin-supplemented high glycemic diet on hippocampal microvasculature in male C57BL/6J mice

TL;DR

This study explores how adding curcumin to a high glycemic diet affects brain microvasculature in mice, revealing potential neuroprotective effects.

Contribution

The study identifies specific gene expression changes in hippocampal microvessels due to curcumin supplementation in a high glycemic diet.

Findings

Curcumin modulated 1887 genes in hippocampal microvessels compared to a high glycemic diet alone.

Modulated genes were linked to pathways like neurodegeneration and blood-brain barrier permeability.

307 genes overlapped and were negatively correlated with high glycemic diet effects compared to a low glycemic diet.

Abstract

Curcumin, a dietary polyphenol primarily derived from turmeric, has potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capabilities against diet-related chronic diseases. A high glycemic diet (HGD) has been shown to contribute to cognitive decline and dysfunction of murine brain microvasculature. The goal of our study was to elucidate the multi-genomic effects of curcumin on hippocampal microvessels in mice during consumption of a high glycemic diet.

Male C57BL/6J mice were fed a low glycemic diet (LGD, 12% sucrose/weight), a high glycemic diet (HGD, 34% sucrose), or a HGD with 0.2% curcumin (HGD + Curc) for 12 weeks. Global transcriptomic profiles, including protein coding and non-coding genes, of laser-captured endothelial microvessels of the hippocampus were analyzed via microarrays. Bioinformatic tools were utilized to uncover networks and functional pathways of differentially expressed genes modulated by curcumin as well as interactivity between transcription factors and major curcumin metabolites via in silico docking analysis.

The HGD + Curc treatment influenced the differential expression of 1887 genes compared to HGD alone, which included messenger RNAs, microRNAs, long noncoding RNAs, and small nucleolar RNAs. Of these modulated genes, 307 overlapped and were negatively correlated with the fold change expression of the HGD versus LGD comparison. These protein coding and non-coding gene targets regulated by HGD+Curc were involved in pathways related to neurodegeneration, oxidative phosphorylation, blood-brain barrier permeability, cell signaling, and cellular metabolism.

The results from this study show that curcumin induces complex nutrigenomic modifications that could elucidate its neuroprotective effect against hippocampal microvascular dysfunction induced by a high glycemic diet.

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