Effect of Curcumin on Hippocampal Cell Death in Rats With Methamphetamine-induced Neurotoxicity

Methamphetamine (METH) is widely used as a psychostimulant. Neurotoxicity is one of the side effects of METH. Curcumin is effective against nerve damage due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. In this study, we aim to assess the effects of curcumin on cognitive memory and cell death in the hippocampus of rats with neurotoxicity induced by METH.

In this study, 60 male Wistar rats were divided into the following groups: Control (n=12), negative control (n=12, received dimethyl sulfoxide), positive control (n=12, received METH), METH+100 mg/kg curcumin (n=12), and METH+200 mg/kg curcumin (n=12). Neurotoxicity was induced by 40 mg/kg METH injected intraperitoneally 4 times (once per two hours). Curcumin treatment was done for 7 consecutive days after the last injection of METH. One day after the last curcumin injection, cognitive memory in the hippocampus of rats was assessed using the object recognition test. Nissl staining was used to assess cell death. The data analysis was done in GraphPad Prism software, version 6.

Administration of curcumin with a dose of 200 mg/kg significantly reduced the cognitive impairment and increased necrotic cell death.

Curcumin can improve cognitive memory and increase cell death in the hippocampus of rats with METH-induced neurotoxicity.