Propiedades farmacológicas de la cúrcuma en enfermedades neurodegenerativas: una revisión de la literatura

Abstract

Curcuma longa is an herbaceous plant native to South Asia and currently cultivated in other parts of the world as Southeast Asia, China, and Latin America. Its use dates back centuries in cultures such as Chinese and Indian, being part of their diet and considered medicine for multiple pathologies. It has been shown to have beneficial effects in hepatic, respiratory, cardiovascular, cancer, and metabolic syndrome diseases, together with its antioxidant, antidepressant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and memory-improving properties, acquiring importance in neurological disorders, especially neurodegenerative diseases. The aim of this study was to develop a literature review on the pharmacological properties of turmeric in neurodegenerative diseases, for which a structured review of scientific articles of primary origin published in the databases such as PubMed, BVS (Virtual Health Library), Cochrane, and Scopus was carried out. A total of 1056 articles were obtained by applying the search equations developed for this research, of which sixteen were selected according to the established criteria. Of these, three present a moderate level of evidence, while four and nine have a low and very low level of evidence, respectively. As a result of this research, an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, protein synthesis regulator, hypolipidemic effect, and, the most outstanding, its impact at a cognitive level with memory improvement as part of the pharmacological properties of turmeric in neurodegenerative diseases were found