Evaluation of the protective effects of curcumin and nanocurcumin against lung injury induced by sub-acute exposure to paraquat in rats

The aim of the current study is comparison the protective effects of curcumin and nanocurcumin against lung injury induced by sub-acute exposure with paraquat (PQ) through modulation of oxidative stress and gene expression. Oxidative stress biomarkers and genes expression were assessed by biochemical and RT-PCR analysis. Histopathological evaluation was performed by H&E staining. The results demonstrate that nanocurcumin to be superior to curcumin in protective effects on PQ-induced changes in mentioned factors. We found nanocurcumin had significantly more protective effect than curcumin to prevent the development of PQ-induced lung injury most probably via modulation of oxidative stress and gene expression.