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Curcumin Alleviates Inflammatory Responses in an Animal Model of Systemic Inflammation

JSHS · 2025

Tanya Mandyam, Dr. Sierra Simpson · Westview High school, San Diego, CA

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Overview

Inflammation is the most common biological response in the majority of acute as well as chronic debilitating diseases and is a chief cause of morbidity. Current therapies for inflammatory diseases are limited to the chronic use of steroidal and non -steroidal anti-inflammatory agents, but this use is reported to cause severe adverse effects. I used an animal model of systemic inflammation and explored the use of curcumin as an anti -inflammatory plant -based organic supplement. I tested the hypothesis that sev ere disturbance in circadian rhythm (12-hour shift in day/night cycle in animals with 12L:12D photoperiod) would enhance inflammatory responses, and curcumin supplement would ameliorate these effects. I induced rhythm disturbance in rats that were fed vehi cle control (almond butter) or curcumin orally (40 mg/kg/day in vehicle) and measured inflammatory responses via 3 procedures: pro -inflammatory cytokines in the plasma (by ELISAs), the size of Peyer’s patches on the gut (by ImageJ), and the gut microbiome composition of feces samples using metagenomics (by Qiime2). My results indicate that the curcumin supplement decreased plasma pro-inflammatory cytokines by 70%, Peyer’s patch size by 50%, and inflammatory microbiota by 75% compared to the vehicle group (a ll p’s<0.05), confirming its anti-inflammatory effects. Mechanisms include a reduction in the pro -inflammatory cytokines TNF -α, IL -6 and CXCL1, the size of the Peyer’s patches, and pro -inflammatory microbiota, proteobacteria. Therefore, my results could be used to test effects of long -term curcumin supplement on various inflammatory diseases associated with pro -inflammatory cytokines and protobacteria (inflammatory bowel disease, metabolic disorders and cancers of the gut and bladder).

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Competition history

  • JSHS 2025 Category not listed

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Source: Junior Science and Humanities Symposium

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