Curcumin aids immune system in ridding brain of plaque A report appearing in the October, 2006 issue of the Journal

of Alzheimer's Disease described the discovery of researchers at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care System that curcumin, a compound occurring in the spice turmeric, assists the immune system in the clearance of amyloid beta in the brain. Amyloid beta is a substance that accumulates in the brains of Alzheimer's patients to form the plaques that are characteristic of the disease. The research team used cell cultures of macrophages obtained from 3 healthy individuals and six Alzheimer's disease patients aged 65 to 84. Macrophages are innate immune system cells that patrol the body, consuming waste products. Before treatment with curcumin, macrophages derived from Alzheimer's disease patients demonstrated a lower uptake of beta amyloid than those derived from the healthy controls. Additional cultures of macrophages received no treatment. After 24 hours of treatment with a drug derived from curcumin the cells were exposed to amyloid beta. The researchers found that curcumin-treated macrophages from three Alzheimer's disease patients demonstrated improved ingestion of amyloid beta compared to macrophages from Alzheimer's patients that did not receive the compound. Cells from healthy individuals, which effectively cleared amyloid beta, showed no change after treatment. Study coauthor Dr Milan Fiala observed that the macrophages that improved after treatment with curcumin were from younger patients and those with less dementia. "Curcumin improved ingestion of amyloid beta by immune cells in 50 percent of patients with Alzheimer's disease. These initial findings demonstrate that curcumin may help boost the immune system of specific Alzheimer's disease patients," he stated. "We are hopeful that these positive results in a test tube may translate to clinical use, but more studies need to be done before curcumin can be recommended," Dr Fiala added.