ABSTRACT
Curcumin, a commonly known spice, has been tested since past several years against a different pathophysiology, especially, in cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) where treatments are showing positive results. The antiinammatory and antioxidant properties of curcumin, an important herb in Indian Ayurvedic medicine, attribute to its preventive role in different chronic vascular and myocardial diseases. Also, curcumin has been tested in different in vivo and in vitro disease models to understand its effective molecular targets, e.g., growth factors, receptors, and proteases that are associated with cellular events such as apoptosis, angiogenesis, and metastasis. Moreover, curcumin has been reported to modulate antioxidant enzymes and oxidative redox signaling along with regulating cytokines, adhesion molecules, and transcription factors. In this chapter, we discuss the overview of curcumin research and its mechanism of action in CVDs (e.g., atherosclerosis, cardiac hypertrophy, myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury, and myocardial infarction) that provide avenues to develop therapeutics in future.
