Novel Curcumin C66 That Protects Diabetes-Induced Aortic Damage Was Associated with Suppressing JNK2 and Upregulating Nrf2 Expression and Function

Diabetes-related cardiovascular diseases are leading causes of the mortality worldwide. Our previous study has explored the protective effect of curcumin analogue C66 on diabetes-induced pathogenic changes of the aorta. In the present study, we sought to reveal the underlying protective mechanisms of C66. Diabetes was induced in male WT and JNK2(−/−) mice with a single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin. Diabetic mice and age-matched nondiabetic mice were randomly treated with either vehicle (WT, WT DM, JNK2(−/−), and JNK2(−/−)DM) or C66 (WT + C66, WT DM + C66, JNK2(−/−) + C66, and JNK2(−/−)DM + C66) for three months. Aortic oxidative stress, cell apoptosis, inflammatory changes, fibrosis, and Nrf2 expression and function were assessed by immunohistochemical staining for the protein level and real-time PCR method for mRNA level. The results suggested that either C66 treatment or JNK2 deletion can reverse diabetes-induced aortic oxidative stress, cell apoptosis, inflammation, and fibrosis. Nrf2 was also found to be activated either by C66 or JNK2 deletion. However, C66 had no extra effect on diabetic aortic damage or Nrf2 activation without JNK2. These results suggest that diabetes-induced pathological changes in the aorta can be protected by C66 mainly via inhibition of JNK2 and accompanied by the upregulation of Nrf2 expression and function.