Turmeric oil: Potential alternative for the treatment of metabolic epilepsy

Epilepsy is a life-shortening brain disorder that currently affects ~ 1% of the worldwide population. Despite the availability of several antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), severe side effects such as cognitive and affective disorders, teratogenicity, hepatotoxicity, among others, have been reported after chronic administration. Also, some patients remain refractory to the available AEDs. Such is the case of metabolic epilepsy. Hence, there is a current need for the discovery of novel active principles with minimal or no adverse side effects. Nature is an exciting source of potential drug candidates for the treatment of pharmacoresistant epilepsy (PRE) due to the highly diverse and complex chemical structures of bioactive vegetal compounds. In this context, we analyzed the rhizome powder of Curcuma longa, commonly known as turmeric. Until our study, the anticonvulsant properties of turmeric were exclusively attributed to its curcuminoids. For the first time, we revealed the anticonvulsant properties of turmeric oil and its main bisabolene sesquiterpenoids, ar-turmerone, α-, β-turmerone, and α-atlantone. Thus, the present chapter discusses the botanical aspects of turmeric, the chemical composition and phytopharmacological aspects of turmeric, curcumin and turmeric oil as well as our results obtained from the anticonvulsant activity characterization of turmeric oil and ar-turmerone. Our findings support further characterization of the anticonvulsant properties of these active compounds and demonstrate the usefulness of the zebrafish and mouse models for searching novel AEDs. Also, the potential therapeutic application of turmeric oil and arturmerone for the treatment of metabolic epilepsy is discussed.