Luvisetto S, Marinelli S, Cobianchi S, Pavone F
CNR Institute of Neuroscience, Psychobiology and Psychopharmacology, Via del Fosso di Fiorano 64, I-00143 Roma, Italy.
Neuroscience. 2007 Mar 2;145(1):1-4. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2006.12.004. Epub 2007 Jan 9.
Neuropathic pain is typified by injuries to the peripheral and central nervous system and derives from such causes as cancer, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, post-herpetic neuralgia, physical trauma or surgery, and many others. Patients suffering neuropathic pain do not respond to conventional treatment with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and show a reduced sensitivity to opiates often associated with serious side effects. Recently, it has been demonstrated that botulinum neurotoxin serotype-A (BoNT/A) is able to induce analgesia in inflammatory pain conditions. The goal of this research was to test if BoNT/A was able to relieve also neuropathic pain symptoms. By using chronic constriction injury of the sciatic nerve, a mouse model of neuropathic pain, we observed that peripheral administration of BoNT/A strongly reduced the mechanical allodynia associated with this neuropathy. Remarkably, a single non-toxic dose of BoNT/A was sufficient to induce anti-allodynic effects, which lasted for at least 3 weeks. This result is particularly relevant since neuropathic pain is poorly treated by current drug therapies. This communication enlarges our knowledge on potentially new medical uses of BoNT/A in efforts to ameliorate human health conditions, with very important implications in the development of new pharmacotherapeutic approaches against neuropathic pain.
神经性疼痛以周围和中枢神经系统损伤为典型特征，其病因包括癌症、糖尿病、多发性硬化症、疱疹后神经痛、身体创伤或手术等诸多因素。患有神经性疼痛的患者对非甾体抗炎药的传统治疗无反应，且对通常伴有严重副作用的阿片类药物敏感性降低。最近，已证明A型肉毒杆菌神经毒素（BoNT/A）在炎性疼痛情况下能够诱导镇痛作用。本研究的目的是测试BoNT/A是否也能够缓解神经性疼痛症状。通过使用坐骨神经慢性压迫损伤这一神经性疼痛小鼠模型，我们观察到外周给予BoNT/A可显著减轻与该神经病变相关的机械性异常性疼痛。值得注意的是，单次无毒剂量的BoNT/A足以诱导抗异常性疼痛效应，且该效应持续至少3周。鉴于目前的药物疗法对神经性疼痛治疗效果不佳，这一结果尤为重要。本通讯扩展了我们对BoNT/A潜在新医学用途的认识，有助于改善人类健康状况，对开发治疗神经性疼痛的新药物治疗方法具有非常重要的意义。
