Neurotropic and immunomodulatory properties of a novel bioflavonoid composition

BACKGROUND: Flavonoids, a class of plant polyphenols, exhibit a wide range of biological (neuro- and immunotropic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, epigenome-modulating) properties involved in the mechanisms of management in various pathological processes, including nervous system diseases. Alcoholism is a pervasive social, medical, and economic issue of a modern society. Prolonged exposure to ethanol has a direct and mediated toxic effect on the human body through its metabolites negatively affecting nervous and immune systems that play a major role in adaptation. The ability of bioflavonoids to manage pathological disorders in a wide range of chronic diseases with neuroimmune pathogenesis mechanisms by interacting with specific cell surface receptors can provide therapeutic benefits in alcoholism. AIM: To assess neurotropic and immunomodulatory properties of a novel curcumin-based bioflavonoid composition during prolonged ethanol consumption. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The content of bioflavonoids in the composition was measured in aqueous-organic extracts using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Chronically alcoholized male (CBA×C57Bl/6)F1 mice who received a 10% ethanol solution as the sole source of fluid during six months were administered a bioflavonoid composition during 30 days. Subsequent studies assessed alcohol motivation by consumption of a 10% ethanol solution in free choice with water, as well as behavioral parameters in the open field test, cytokine content in the brain structures (prefrontal cortex, hypothalamus, hippocampus, striatum) using enzyme immunoassay. The intensity of the cellular and humoral immune response was determined by the severity of the delayed-type hypersensitivity response and relative number of splenic antibody-forming cells, respectively. RESULTS: The quantitative content of bioflavonoids was determined in the composition consisting of curcumin, piperine, soybean isoflavonoids, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, triterpene saponins, and β-carotene. Taking this composition in the context of prolonged ethanol consumption was shown to have a positive effect expressed in correcting the alcoholism-related behavioral phenotype (reduced alcohol motivation, stimulation of locomotor and exploratory activity), accompanied by decreased levels of certain proinflammatory cytokines in the brain structures (most pronounced in the hippocampus). Stimulation of the humoral and cellular immune response was also demonstrated after a course of treatment with the described composition. CONCLUSIONS: The data support the use of the novel bioflavonoid composition as an additional immunomodulatory and neurotropic agent in the treatment of chronic alcoholism.