Effect of Curcumin on Acute Paraquat Poisoning by Metabolomics

Introduction: Curcumin possesses a wide range of biological properties, including anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-proliferative, and anti-microbial activities. Paraquat (PQ) is a highly toxic herbicide, and many cases of acute poisoning and death have been reported over the past decades in humans and animals. In this study, we developed a tissue (lung, liver, kidney, heart) metabolomics method by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) combined with analysis of pathologic changes in tissues to evaluate the effect of curcumin in rats that underwent acute PQ poisoning. Materials and Methods: Thirty-six rats were randomly divided into the acute PQ poisoning group, the curcumin group, the acute PQ poisoning and curcumin intervention group, and the control group, with 9 rats in each group. Partial Least Squares-Discriminate Analysis (PLS-DA) revealed that intragastric administration of curcumin induced metabolic perturbations of acute PQ poisoning. Results: When rats were treated with curcumin, compared to the acute PQ poisoning group, certain biomarkers (L-alanine, L-proline, D-ribose, arachidonic acid, 9,12-octadecadienoic acid, octadecanoic acid, and hexadecanoic acid) changed in tissues (lung, liver, kidney, and heart) of the acute PQ poisoning and curcumin intervention group. The PLS-DA 3D score chart showed that the rats in the acute PQ poisoning group were clearly distinguished from the rats in the control group or acute PQ poisoning with curcumin intervention group, and suggested that there was some improvement in rats that received curcumin intervention for acute PQ poisoning. Pathologic changes in tissues (lung, liver, kidney, and heart) showed that curcumin intervention for PQ poisonings reduced the degree of pulmonary fibrosis. Conclusion: Curcumin intervention for acute PQ poisoning resulted in some improvement. Moreover, the metabolomic method by GC-MS may be useful to elucidate the effects of curcumin in rats that have been acutely poisoned by PQ.