Peripheral neuropathies (PN) can be triggered after metabolic diseases, traumatic peripheral nerve injury, genetic mutations, toxic substances, and/or inflammation. PN is a major clinical problem, affecting many patients and with few effective therapeutics. Recently, interest in natural dietary compounds, such as polyphenols, in human health has led to a great deal of research, especially in PN. Curcumin is a polyphenol extracted from the root of Curcuma longa. This molecule has long been used in Asian medicine for its anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antioxidant properties. However, like numerous polyphenols, curcumin has a very low bioavailability and a very fast metabolism. This review addresses multiple aspects of curcumin in PN, including bioavailability issues, new formulations, observations in animal behavioral tests, electrophysiological, histological, and molecular aspects, and clinical trials published to date. The, review covers in vitro and in vivo studies, with a special focus on the molecular mechanisms of curcumin (anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-endoplasmic reticulum stress (anti-ER-stress), neuroprotection, and glial protection). This review provides for the first time an overview of curcumin in the treatment of PN. Finally, because PN are associated with numerous pathologies (e.g., cancers, diabetes, addiction, inflammatory disease...), this review is likely to interest a large audience.

Tobacco smoking is the major cause of disability and death in the United States and around the world. In addition, tobacco dependence and addiction express themselves as complex behaviors involving an interplay of genetics, environment, and psychological state. Mouse genetic studies could potentially elucidate the novel genes and/or gene networks regulating various aspects of nicotine dependence. Using the closely related C57BL/6 (B6) mice substrains, recent reports have noted phenotypic differences within C57BL/6J (B6J) and C57BL/6N (B6N) mice for some drugs of abuse: alcohol, opiates, and cocaine. However, the differences in nicotine’s effects have not yet been described in these substrains. We examined the phenotypic differences in these substrains following the acute and repeated administration of nicotine in several pharmacological measures, including locomotion (after acute and repeated exposure), body temperature, nociception, and anxiety-like behaviors. We report substrain differences in the pharmacological effects of acute and repeated nicotine administration in the B6 substrains. Overall, we show enhanced nicotine sensitivity to locomotion, hypothermia, antinociception, and anxiety-like behaviors in the B6J mouse substrain compared to B6N. In the repeated administration paradigm, both the B6N and B6J substrains showed no sensitized locomotor responses after repeated exposure to nicotine at the two doses tested. This study thus provides evidence that the B6 mouse substrains may be useful for genetic studies to elucidate some of the genetic variants involved in tobacco dependence and addiction.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common form of primary liver cancer and the fifth most common cancer worldwide. HCC is recognized as the fourth most common cause of cancer related deaths worldwide due to the lack of effective early diagnostic tools, which often leads to individuals going undiagnosed until the cancer has reached late stage development. The current FDA approved treatments for late stage HCC provide a minimal increase in patient survival and lack tumor specificity, resulting in toxic systemic side effects. Gene therapy techniques, such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T Cells, viral vectors, and nanoparticles, are being explored as novel treatment options in various genetic diseases. Pre-clinical studies using gene therapy to treat in vitro and in vivo models of HCC have demonstrated potential efficacy for use in human patients. This review highlights genetic targets, techniques, and current clinical trials in HCC utilizing gene therapy.