Abstract
Curcumin is extracted from the rhizomes of the traditional Chinese herb Curcuma longa and has been proposed to function as a photosensitizer. The potential use of curcumin as a sonosensitizer for sonodynamic therapy (SDT) requires further exploration. This study investigated the sonodynamic effect of curcumin on macrophages, the pivotal inflammatory cells in atherosclerotic plaque. THP-1-derived macrophages were incubated with curcumin at a concentration of 40.7 μmol/L for 2 h and then exposed to pulse ultrasound irradiation (2 W/cm2 with 0.86 MHz) for 5–15 min. Six hours later, cell viability was decreased in cells that had been treated with ultrasound for 10 and 15 min. After ultrasound irradiation for 15 min, the ratio of apoptotic and necrotic cells in SDT group was higher than that in ultrasound group, and the ratio of apoptotic cells was higher than that of necrotic cells. Both loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and morphological changes of cytoskeleton were apparent 2 h after treatment with curcumin SDT. These findings support that curcumin had sonodynamic effect on THP-1-derived macrophages and that curcumin SDT could be a promising treatment for atherosclerosis.
Highlights
Atherosclerosis poses a severe threat to human health
Curcumin is extracted from the rhizomes of the traditional Chinese herb Curcuma longa and has been proposed to function as a photosensitizer. e potential use of curcumin as a sonosensitizer for sonodynamic therapy (SDT) requires further exploration. is study investigated the sonodynamic effect of curcumin on macrophages, the pivotal in ammatory cells in atherosclerotic plaque
A er ultrasound irradiation for 15 min, the ratio of apoptotic and necrotic cells in SDT group was higher than that in ultrasound group, and the ratio of apoptotic cells was higher than that of necrotic cells. Both loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and morphological changes of cytoskeleton were apparent 2 h a er treatment with curcumin SDT. ese ndings support that curcumin had sonodynamic effect on THP-1-derived macrophages and that curcumin SDT could be a promising treatment for atherosclerosis
Summary
Most acute cardiovascular events result from the rupture of an atherosclerotic plaque, and macrophages play a crucial role in the progression [1,2,3]. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) for atherosclerosis is a new treatment modality that has been proven to induce plaque regression in animal atherosclerosis models [4, 5]. PDT has two recognized drawbacks: (i) it can only be applied to super cial lesions because of the limited penetration of light into tissues, even though atherosclerotic lesions may exist deep in the human body. To resolve the problem of tissue penetration, another method called sonodynamic therapy (SDT) has been investigated. Ultrasound has an appropriate tissue attenuation coef cient, allowing it to penetrate into tissues and reach nonsuper cial ob ects while maintaining the ability to focus energy into small volumes and activate sonosensitizers. There have been extensive investigations of the effects of SDT on tumors [8]
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