1Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, LLRM Medical College, Meerut, U.P.
2Professor, Department of Medicine, SIMS, Anwarpur, Hapur, (U.P.)
*Corresponding author: Pratibha Rani, Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, LLRM Medical College Meerut, U.P., rajuaadi@gmail.com
Online published on 14 October, 2016.
Curcumin derived from the rhizome Curcuma longa is one of the primary ingredient of turmeric. Turmeric is extensively used in Indian cuisine. It is used as a food additive (spice), preservative and coloring agent. The intake of turmeric in the diet may expose the gut to curcumin and affect its physiological functions, including the absorption of nutrients from small intestine. To explore this possibility, transport of amino acid from small intestine was studied in adult albino rats following feeding the animals curcumin intragastrically for five consecutive days. The controls were fed simultaneously, the vehicular fluid intragastrically in the identical volume. Transport of amino acid from small intestine was studied using everted sac technique of Wilson and Wiseman (1954) on animal fasted for 16–20 hrs. Everted sacs were prepared from both jejuna and ileal portion of small intestine.
Observations showed a significant increase in amino acid transport from jejuna ileal portion of small intestine suggesting that curcumin does influence the transport of nutrients from the gut.
curcumin, L-proline, jejunal sac, Ileal sac, everted sac, vehicular fluid
