Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were given traumatic brain injury using a modified weight drop method. The treatment group received 25 mg/kg of Tetrohydrocurcumin dissolved in saline and delivered by intraperitoneal injection. Relative to control animals, rats which were treated with tetrahydrocurcumin showed signs of increased autophagy in the injured cortex, reduced oxidative stress, reduced apoptosis and altered expression of apoptotic factors, and improved neurological function.

Human breast cancer MCF-7 cells were grown in RPMI 1640 medium with 10% fetal bovine serum and 1% immune body and incubated at 37 deg-C under a 5% CO2 atmosphere. Cells were grown for 24 hours before incubation with various concentrations of Tetrahydrocurcumin for 12, 24 and 48 hours. After treatment cell viability was determined using the MTT method. Induction of apoptosis was tested by treating MCF-7 cells with 0, 70, and 100 micro-M of tetrahydrocurcumin. Tetrahydrocurcumin showed an antiproliferative effect with a 24 hour IC50 of 107.8 micro-M. This was linked to cell cycle arrest in the G0/G1 phase. Treatment of MCF-7 cells with 100 micro-M tetrahydrocurcumin increased apoptotic cell death by 37.8%.