Protective effects of curcumin on dyslipidaemia of adenine-induced chronic kidney disease in rats

Curcumin is an active ingredient of traditional herbal remedy Curcuma longa L. and possesses a wide array of metabolic benefits including anti-obesity, glucose lowering, insulin sensitising, lipid lowering and renoprotective effects. Furthermore, curcumin also protects against variety of chemical-induced renal injury. Thus, in the present thesis, it is hypothesised that curcumin improves renal function by restoring the altered lipid metabolism through blocking or reversing the pathological progress of dyslipidaemia associated with Chronic kidney disease CKD. The proposed research project is based on the hypothesis that long-term curcumin (CUR) supplementation may improve lipid metabolism and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in CKD. The general objective of this thesis is to investigate the in vivo effects of curcumin on dyslipidaemia of adenine-induced chronic kidney disease in a rat model (CHAPTER 2). The specific objectives of this thesis are (i) elucidate the possible mechanism(s) of action of curcumin on cholesterol-rich lipoproteins metabolism in adenine-induced chronic kidney disease (CHAPTER 3), (ii) elucidate the possible mechanism(s) of action of curcumin on triglyceride-rich lipoproteins metabolism in adenine-induced chronic kidney disease (CHAPTER 4) and (iii) elucidate the possible mechanism(s) of action of curcumin on high density lipoprotein (HDL) abnormalities in adenine-induced chronic kidney disease (CHAPTER 5). Overall, this study demonstrated that (i) chronic feeding of adenine-rich diet (0.75 % w/w) to rats caused renal damage which mimics to human chronic kidney disease and precipitates the metabolic dyslipidaemia. (ii) chronic curcumin supplementation to CKD rats improved hepatic lipid profile and kidney function tests. (iii) curcumin supplementation to CKD rats improved cholesterol-rich lipoprotein (such as LDL) metabolism by regulating of hepatic HMG-CoA reductase, LDL receptor and ACAT2 proteins, triglyceride-rich lipoprotein (such as VLDL) metabolism by regulating of hepatic and lipoprotein lipases and alleviates HDL abnormalities by regulating of LCAT protein expression. Thus, the protective effects of curcumin may be therapeutically useful in the prevention or management of CKD-induced dyslipidaemia