Comparative anti-inflammatory activities of curcumin and tetrahydrocurcumin based on the phenolic O-H bond dissociation enthalpy, ionization potential and quantum chemical descriptor.

Curcumin and its reduced derivative tetrahydrocurcumin have been shown to exhibit chemopreventive activity. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibition in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)- or Porphyromonas gingivalis fimbria-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells was investigated using Northern blot analysis. The fimbria-stimulated expression of the COX-2 gene was inhibited by curcumin but not by tetrahydrocurcumin. LPS-stimulated COX-2 gene expression was completely inhibited by curcumin, but an increase in the concentration of tetrahydrocurcumin did not cause complete inhibition of COX-2 expression. The inhibitory effect of curcumin on nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB) activation in the cells was clearly observed, but that of tetrahydrocurcumin was incomplete even at a concentration of 20 microM. To explain the difference in effect between the two compounds, analysis of the frontier orbital was performed using ab initio 6-31G* wave function. The calculated chemical hardness (eta) for curcumin was clearly smaller, whereas its electronegativity (chi) and electrophilicity (omega) were clearly greater than the corresponding values for the curcumin-related compounds tetrahydrocurcumin, isoeugenol and eugenol. This suggested that the anti-inflammatory activities of curcumin may be related to eta-, chi- and/or omega-controlled enzymes. In addition, the bond dissociation enthalpy (BDE) of the phenolic OH was calculated using the density function theory (DFT)/B3LY. The total BDE values of curcumin and tetrahydrocurcumin were almost identical, but the BDE of one-electron oxidation and ionization potential (IP) for curcumin were lower than those for tetrahydrocurcumin, suggesting the highly pro-oxidative activity of curcumin. Curcumin has both oxidant and antioxidant properties. A causal link between the anti-inflammatory activities and molecular properties of phenolic antioxidants is suggested.