Electroanalytical Study of the Antioxidant and Antitumor Agent Curcumin

Electrochemical Sensing of Curcumin: A Review

Curcumin is a natural polyphenol derived from turmeric (Curcuma longa) root that has been used for centuries as a spice, coloring agent, and medicine. Curcumin presents anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, antimicrobial, antiviral, antimalarial, hepatoprotective, thrombosuppressive, cardiovascular, hypoglycemic, antiarthritic, and anti-neurodegenerative properties. It scavenges different forms of free radicals and acts on transcription factors, growth factors and their receptors, cytokines, enzymes, and genes, regulating cell proliferation and apoptosis. Curcumin is electroactive, and a relationship between its electron transfer properties and radical-scavenging activity has been highlighted. The objective of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the curcumin electron transfer reactions, with emphasis on the controversial aspects related to its oxidation mechanism. The final sections will focus on the electroanalysis of curcumin in natural products, highlighting the most important sensing strategies, based on functional electrodes and nanostructured materials, essential for the development of more efficient in vitro methods of detection and quantification of curcumin in food samples, supplements, and nutripharmaceuticals.

Curcumin Electrochemistry-Antioxidant Activity Assessment, Voltammetric Behavior and Quantitative Determination, Applications as Electrode Modifier

Curcumin (CU) is a polyphenolic compound extracted from turmeric, a well-known dietary spice. Since it has been shown that CU exerts beneficial effects on human health, interest has increased in its use but also in its analysis in different matrices. CU has an antioxidant character and is electroactive due to the presence of phenolic groups in its molecule. This paper reviews the data reported in the literature regarding the use of electrochemical techniques for the assessment of CU antioxidant activity and the investigation of the voltammetric behavior at different electrodes of free or loaded CU on various carriers. The performance characteristics and the analytical applications of the electrochemical methods developed for CU analysis are compared and critically discussed. Examples of voltammetric investigations of CU interaction with different metallic ions or of CU or CU complexes with DNA as well as the CU applications as electrode modifiers for the enhanced detection of various chemical species are also shown.

Electro-Polymerized Titan Yellow Modified Carbon Paste Electrode for the Analysis of Curcumin

A modest, efficient, and sensitive chemically modified electrode was fabricated for sensing curcumin (CRC) through an electrochemically polymerized titan yellow (TY) modified carbon paste electrode (PTYMCPE) in phosphate buffer solution (pH 7.0). Cyclic voltammetry (CV) linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) approaches were used for CRC detection. PTYMCPE interaction with CRC suggests that the electrode exhibits admirable electrochemical response as compared to bare carbon paste electrode (BCPE). Under the optimized circumstances, a linear response of the electrode was observed for CRC in the concentration range 2 × 10−6 M to 10 × 10−6 M with a limit of detection (LOD) of 10.94 × 10−7 M. Moreover, the effort explains that the PTYMCPE electrode has a hopeful approach for the electrochemical resolution of biologically significant compounds. Additionally, the proposed electrode has demonstrated many advantages such as easy preparation, elevated sensitivity, stability, and enhanced catalytic activity, and can be successfully applied in real sample analysis.

Electrochemical Detection of Curcumin in Food with a Carbon Nanotube-Carboxymethylcellulose Electrode

Herein, an electrochemical method is presented for the detection of curcumin in food using a carbon nanotube (CNT)-carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) electrode. The CNT-CMC electrode exhibited ideal characteristics for curcumin detection, namely, a high response current and adequate peak separation toward curcumin oxidation. Cyclic voltammetry revealed two oxidation peaks. In the first scan, only the irreversible peak (Peak I) was observed at a higher potential. In the second scan, the reversible redox peak pairs (Peaks II and II') appeared at lower potentials, and the potential of Peak I was decreased. Peak I corresponded to oxidation of the hydroxyl groups of the benzene ring to the catechol group via a phenoxy radical, while Peaks II and II' indicated the redox loop system of the generated catechol group. The current at Peak II was used to quantify the concentration of curcumin in the linear range of 1 - 48 μM and detection limit of 0.084 μM. The concentrations of curcumin determined by the CNT-CMC electrode in real food samples were consistent with those determined by high-performance liquid chromatography.

Curcumin, a Compound from Natural Sources, a True Scientific Challenge - A Review

Curcumin, a plant-derived polyphenolic compound, naturally present in turmeric (Curcuma longa), has been the subject of intensive investigations on account of its various activities. The implementation of safe, beneficial and highly functional compounds from natural sources in human nutrition/prevention/therapy requires some modifications in order to achieve their multi-functionality, improve their bioavailability and delivery strategies, with the main aim to enhance their effectiveness. The low aqueous solubility of curcumin, its rapid metabolism and elimination from the body, and consequently, poor bioavailability, constitute major obstacles to its application. The main objectives of this review are related to reported strategies to overcome these limitations and, thereby, improve the solubility, stability and bioavailability of curcumin. The effectiveness of curcumin could be greatly improved by using nanoparticle-based carriers. The significance of the quality of a substance delivery system is reflected in the fact that carrying curcumin as a food additive/nutrition also means carrying the active biological product/drug. This review summarizes the state of the art, and highlights some examples and the most significant advances in the field of curcumin research.

Interaction between curcumin and mimetic biomembrane

Curcumin, a major bioactive compound in turmeric, has a broad spectrum of antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, antimutagenic and anti-inflammatory properties. At the molecular level, curcumin modulates many structurally unrelated membrane proteins through several signaling pathways. Curcumin has been suggested to change the properties of cell membranes and affect the membrane-bound proteins indirectly; however, the detailed mechanism has yet to be investigated. In this paper, self-assembled bilayer lipid membranes are artificially constructed on the surface of a gold electrode to mimic biomembranes, and interaction between the supported membranes and curcumin is studied electrochemically. Results show that curcumin interacts with the membranes strongly, in a concentration-dependent manner. At low concentrations, curcumin tends to insert into the outer monolayer only, while at high concentrations, it may also begin to penetrate the inner monolayer. The results obtained in this work may enhance our understanding of the effect of curcumin, and possibly flavonoids, on cell membranes and membrane proteins.

Study binding of Al-curcumin complex to ds-DNA, monitoring by multispectroscopic and voltammetric techniques

In this work a complex of Al3+ with curcumin ([Al(curcumin) (EtOH)2](NO3)2) was synthesized and characterized by UV-vis, FT-IR, elemental analysis and spectrophotometric titration techniques. The mole ratio plot revealed a 1:1 complex between Al3+ and curcumin in solution. For binding studies of this complex to calf thymus-DNA various methods such as: UV-vis, fluorescence, circular dichroism (CD), FT-IR spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry were used. The intrinsic binding constant of ACC with DNA at 25°C was calculated by UV-vis and cyclic voltammetry as 2.1×10(4) and 2.6×10(4), respectively. The thermodynamic studies showed that the reaction is enthalpy and entropy favored. The CD results showed that only the Δ-ACC interacts with DNA and the Δ-ACC form has not any tendency to interact with DNA, also the pure curcumin has not any stereoselective interaction with CT-DNA. Fluorimetric studies showed that fluorescence enhancement was initiated by a static process in the ground state. The cyclic voltammetry showed that ACC interact with DNA with a binding site size of 2. From the FT-IR we concluded that the Δ-ACC interacts with DNA via partial electrostatic and minor groove binding. In comparison with previous works it was concluded that curcumin significantly reduced the affinity of Al3+ to the DNA.

Adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetric determination of curcumin in turmeric and human serum

A simple, rapid, reliable and fully validated differential pulse adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetric procedure has been developed for determination of the curcumin in human serum and turmeric, based on its electrochemical reduction at a hanging mercury drop electrode. The Britton–Robinson (BR) buffer of pH 9.5 was found to be reasonable as a supporting electrolyte for the assay of the compound. The effect of different parameters, such as pH, accumulation potential and accumulation time, on the sensitivity of method was evaluated. Under the optimized conditions (accumulation potential –0.3 V, accumulation time 50 s, BR buffer pH 9.5), curcumin was generated one irreversible cathodic peak. This cathodic peak showed a linear dependence on the concentration of curcumin over the range of 5.0 × 10–9–2.8 × 10–7 mol l–1. The obtained detection limit under the optimal experimental conditions is 1.5 × 10–9 mol l–1 after 50 s of the accumulation time. The relative standard deviation of 1.12% for concentration of 5.0 × 10–8 mol l–1 with 50 s accumulation time was obtained. The procedure was used successfully to the assay of the curcumin in turmeric and spiked human serum, and a good agreement was obtained between the results of the proposed method and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis.