Curcumin Acts as a Positive Allosteric Modulator of -Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors and Reverses Nociception in Mouse Models of Inflammatory Pain.

Effects of curcumin, a major ingredient of turmeric, were tested on the function of the -subunit of the human nicotinic acetylcholine (-nACh) receptor expressed in oocytes and on nociception in mouse models of tonic and visceral pain. Curcumin caused a significant potentiation of currents induced by acetylcholine (ACh; 100 M) with an EC value of 0.2 M.