Curcumin and Wound Healing
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    Curcumin improves wound healing by modulating collagen and
    decreasing reactive oxygen species


    BY: Manikandan Panchatcharam1, Sumitra Miriyala1, Vinaya Subramani Gayathri2 and Lonchin
    Suguna3

    (1)  Department of Carolina Cardiovascular Biology Centre, University of North Carolina, Chapel
    Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
    (2)  Department of Chemistry, SSN College of Engineering, Thalambur, Chennai, India
    (3)  Department of Biochemistry, Central Leather Research Institute, Adyar, Chennai, 600 020,
    Tamilnadu, India

    Received: 3 January 2006  Accepted: 1 March 2006  Published online: 13 June 2006



    Abstract  Wound healing consists of an orderly progression of events that re-establish the integrity
    of the damaged tissue. Several natural products have been shown to accelerate the healing
    process. The present investigation was undertaken to determine the role of curcumin on changes
    in collagen characteristics and antioxidant property during cutaneous wound healing in rats. Full-
    thickness excision wounds were made on the back of rat and curcumin was administered topically.
    The wound tissues removed on 4th, 8th and 12th day (post-wound) were used to analyse
    biochemical and pathological changes. Curcumin increased cellular proliferation and collagen
    synthesis at the wound site, as evidenced by increase in DNA, total protein and type III collagen
    content of wound tissues. Curcumin treated wounds were found to heal much faster as indicated by
    improved rates of epithelialisation, wound contraction and increased tensile strength which were
    also confirmed by histopathological examinations. Curcumin treatment was shown to decrease the
    levels of lipid peroxides (LPs), while the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT),
    glutathione peroxidase (GPx), activities were significantly increased exhibiting the antioxidant
    properties of curcumin in accelerating wound healing. Better maturation and cross linking of
    collagen were observed in the curcumin treated rats, by increased stability of acid-soluble collagen,
    aldehyde content, shrinkage temperature and tensile strength. The results clearly substantiate the
    beneficial effects of the topical application of curcumin in the acceleration of wound healing and its
    antioxidant effect.