Study Highlights New Opiate Pain Pathways Discovered for Curcumin

GREEN BAY, Wis., Nov. 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In a recent study published in Phytomedicine by Alexander Panossian, Ph.D. and his colleagues, researchers for the first time discovered a unique pain relieving mechanism for curcumin via a specific opiate receptor in the brain called the opioid related nociception receptor gene (OPRL1). While curcumin is not an opiate, which is a class of prescription drugs in the opium/morphine family, this newly discovered activity integral to pain relief demonstrated that curcumin downregulates the expression of this gene. While other opiate receptors relieve pain, the nociceptin receptor actually increases sensitivity to pain. By downregulating OPRL1 (reducing this gene's activity), sensitivity to pain decreases.

[Ean-Jeong Seo , Thomas Efferth , Alexander Panossian. Curcumin downregulates expression of opioid-related nociceptin receptor gene (OPRL1) in isolated neuroglia cells, Phytomedicine (2018), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phymed.2018.09.202]

The study authors report that OPRL1 plays many roles in modulating chronic and postoperative pain, arthralgia (joint pain), myalgia (muscle pain), rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, backache, opioid, heroin and cocaine dependence, drug addiction and abuse, major depression, chronic hepatitis C, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, infection, anxiety, depression, obesity, Parkinson's disease and cognition.

The researchers used a patented curcumin blended with turmeric essential oil (CuraMed Curcumin) and the fixed combination (Curamin) of this curcumin and a uniquely standardized boswellia. The boswellia was standardized to have a minimum of 10 percent of 3acetyl-11keto-beta-boswellic acid (AKBA), boswellia's most powerful derivative of boswellic acid, and is purified to reduce to the amount of pro-inflammatory beta boswellic acid to less than five percent.

The curcumin with turmeric essential oil on its own downregulated (reduced) OPRL1 gene expression 5.9 fold. The boswellia, on its own, had no effect. However, the fixed combination of curcumin and boswellia downregulated OPRL1 expression 7.2 fold. The authors highlighted this synergistic benefit.

OPRL1 is a gene that encodes the receptor for nociceptin. Nociceptin is a neuropeptide, which acts as an endogenous anti-analgesic, increasing sensation to pain in brain via activation of the nociceptin receptor, while other opiate receptors relieve pain. By downregulating OPRL1 (reducing this gene's activity), curcumin suppress nociceptin receptor production that decreases nociceptin-related sensation of pain.

In this study, gene expression profiling by transcriptome-wide mRNA sequencing in human neuroglia cells (T98G ) treated with the curcumin with turmeric essential oil, boswellia, and the combination of curcumin with turmeric essential oil and boswellia, followed by interactive pathway analysis of the regulated genes was utilized. Using this methodology, the effects of specific compounds on gene expression can be tested and measured. The RNA sequencing results were validated by real-time RT-PCR experiments and comparable results were obtained.

For more information on the study, please contact Hilary Hancock at [email protected] or 858-334-3078.

About Alexander Panossian, Ph.D., Dr. Sci.
Dr. Panossian completed his doctorate in organic chemistry at the Yerevan State University and obtained his scientific degrees from Moscow's Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry and Institute of Fine Chemical Technology. In Armenia, he worked for the National Academy of Sciences and the National Institute of Health. After the collapse of United Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Dr. Panossian was made a full professor of chemistry of natural and physiological active compounds in the Russian Federation. In 2003, he moved to Sweden where he worked for the Swedish Herbal Institute as head of research and development. During his scientific career, he was a guest scientist in the laboratory of Nobel laureate Bengt Samuelsson at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, at Munich University, and at King's College in London. He has written or co-authored more than 170 articles in peer-reviewed journals.

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SOURCE Dr. Alexander Panossian