Abstract
Curcumin/curcuminoids exhibits great potential as a therapeutic agent because of its pleiotropic activities to affect tumor progression. Curcumin inhibits cancer cells proliferation through mitochondria-mediated apoptosis. Mitochondria are highly dynamic organelles that undergo constant morphological changes by fission and fusion events. Mitochondrial dynamics is linked to mitochondrial function and cell metabolism. Recently, mitochondria-shaping proteins are found to affect apoptosis and regulate the resistance of cancer cells to apoptotic stimuli. However, the mechanisms curcumin/curcuminoids affect mitochondrial functions and the roles of mitochondrial dynamics under curcumin/curcuminoids treatment are unclear. In this study, we aim to clarify the effects of curcumin/curcuminoids on mitochondrial function and dynamics. We found curcuminoids caused mitochondrial fragmentation, mitochondrial respiration defects and induced mitochondria-mediated apoptosis. We also demonstrated that curcumin/curcuminoids disturbed mitochondrial dynamics through conventional fusion/fission pathways. Additionally, curcuminoids damaged cancer cells motility. The underlined regulatory pathways related to these adjustments were discussed. Our results provide novel insights of the role of mitochondrial dynamics in curcuminoids-mediated cell death.