Pretreatment with curcumin improves survival in rats undergoing severe hemorrhagic shock

Background. Unique novel medicinals (Picroliv and Curcumin) derived from plants, offers beneficial effects due to their anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Our objective was to determine if pro treatment with either of these novel compounds could confer survival benefit against severe hemorrhagic shock and resuscitation. Materials and Methods. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 69) was randomized into one of three groups and fed daily for seven days by oral gavage: either Curcumin (n = 24, 200 μmol/ kg), Picroliv (n = 21, 12 mg/ kg) or control saline feed (n = 24). Then under isoflurane anesthesia, the animals had their femoral artery and external jugular vein cannulated and were subjected to a 28cc/kg hemorrhage over 10 minutes followed by a 75 minute hypovolemic shock phase then resuscitation over one hour with Lactated Ringer's solution (84 cc/ kg, 3X bled volume). The persons performing the experiment were blinded to the pretreatment. Animals were then allowed food and water for 72 hours. Chi square analysis was used for survival rates. Results. All three groups of animals had their blood pressure fall below 20 % of baseline blood pressure after hemorrhage and it returned to baseline levels following resuscitation. There was no difference between the three groups in terms of weight, mean arterial pressure, HCT, pH, lactate levels, electrolytes, O2, CO2, or lactate levels before hemorrhage and end of resuscitation. The survival rate in the control group was 58 % (14 / 24 animals) whereas the survival was 87.5 % in the Curcumin group (21 /24, p < 0.05) and 38% in the Picroliv group (8/21 p = 0.18). The majority of deaths in the Picroliv and control groups were within 24 hours of resuscitation. In the Curcumin treated group, the deaths were at 24 hours for one animal and 72 hours for two. Conclusion. Curcumin fed animals demonstrated a significant survival advantage to animals pretreated with this compound prior to hemorrhage. The deaths in the Curcumin treated animals were late in contrast to the other groups that experienced earlier deaths. Further study is needed to determine the mechanism of this protective effect and to explore possible therapeutic applications.