Chronic hypobaric hypoxia induced muscle atrophy results in decreased physical performance at high altitude. Curcumin has been shown to have muscle sparing effects under cachectic conditions. However, the protective effects of curcumin under chronic hypobaric hypoxia have not been studied till now. Therefore, the present study aims at evaluating the effects of curcumin administration on muscle atrophy under chronic hypobaric hypoxia. Male Sprague Dawley rats were divided into four groups: Control (C)-normoxia exposed, Control Treated (CT)-normoxia exposed and administered with curcumin at a dose of 100 mg/kg body weight for 14 days, Hypoxia (H)-exposed to hypobaric hypoxia for 14 days and Hypoxia Treated (HT)-exposed to hypobaric hypoxia and administered with curcumin for 14 days. Oxidative stress, muscle protein degradation, proteolytic pathways, myosin heavy chain (MHC), CPK activity and muscle histology were performed in gastrocnemius muscle samples of the exposed rats. In addition, fatigue time on treadmill running was also evaluated to observe the effects of curcumin administration on physical performance of the rats. As previously shown, hypobaric hypoxia increased muscle protein degradation via upregulated calpain and ubiquitin-proteolytic pathways. An enhanced oxidative stress has been linked to upregulation of these pathways under hypoxic conditions. Curcumin administration resulted in reduced oxidative stress as well as reduced activity of the proteolytic pathways in HT group as compared to H group thereby resulting in reduced muscle protein degradation under hypobaric hypoxia. Histology of rat muscle revealed an increased number of muscle fibres in HT as compared to H group. Thus, increased number of muscle fibres and decreased muscle proteolysis following curcumin administration, lead to enhanced muscle mass under hypobaric hypoxia resulting in improved physical performance of the rats.

慢性低压缺氧引起的肌肉萎缩会导致高海拔地区身体机能下降。姜黄素已被证明在恶病质条件下具有肌肉保护作用。然而，姜黄素对慢性低压缺氧的保护作用至今尚未研究。因此，本研究旨在评估姜黄素给药对慢性低压缺氧下肌肉萎缩的影响。将雄性Sprague Dawley大鼠分为四组：对照组（C）-常氧暴露，对照治疗（CT）-常氧暴露并以姜黄素以100 mg / kg体重的剂量给药14天，低氧（H）暴露进行低压缺氧14天，低氧治疗（HT）暴露于低压缺氧，并给予姜黄素14天。氧化应激，肌肉蛋白质降解，蛋白水解途径，在暴露大鼠的腓肠肌肌肉样品中进行肌球蛋白重链（MHC），CPK活性和肌肉组织学检查。此外，还评估了跑步机跑步时的疲劳时间，以观察姜黄素给药对大鼠身体机能的影响。如前所述，低压缺氧通过上调钙蛋白酶和泛素蛋白水解途径增加了肌肉蛋白降解。在缺氧条件下，氧化应激的增强与这些途径的上调有关。与H组相比，姜黄素给药导致HT组的氧化应激降低以及蛋白水解途径的活性降低，从而导致低压缺氧条件下肌肉蛋白质降解的降低。与H组相比，大鼠肌肉的组织学检查显示HT中的肌肉纤维数量增加。