Department of Radiation Oncology, PLA 302 Hospital, Beijing, China.
Department of Clinical Laboratory, PLA 302 Hospital, Beijing, China.
J Surg Res. 2014 May 1;188(1):174-82. doi: 10.1016/j.jss.2013.11.1087. Epub 2013 Nov 23.
Inflammatory pain is one of the most common clinical symptoms, mechanical allodynia and thermal hypersensitivities are associated with proinflammatory cytokines, and proinflammatory cytokine antagonists could alleviate the hypersensitivity. Previous studies showed that a traditional Chinese medicine ingredient, triptolide could inhibit inflammatory cytokines; however, it was still unknown whether triptolide had beneficial effects on treating inflammatory pain.
The effects of triptolide on Complete Freund's Adjuvant-induced acute inflammatory pain were investigated using behavioral tests. The activation of spinal glia was morphologically observed by immunofluorescent histochemistry. The levels of OX42, glia fibrillary acidic protein, and phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase in the spinal cord were detected by Western blot, and the messenger RNA levels of interleukin 1β, interleukin 6, and tumor necrosis factor alpha were detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction.
These results demonstrate that the triptolide effectively attenuates inflammatory pain induced by Complete Freund's Adjuvant, the underlying mechanism may regulate the phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase signaling pathway and inhibit the spinal glia activation, and then downregulate the proinflammatory cytokines; the triptolide may be clinically useful as a drug of anti-inflammatory pain.
In the present study, we first reported that repeated systemic administration of triptolide could safely prevent and reverse inflammatory pain. The triptolide may serve as a new potential compound for developing safe therapeutics for patients suffering inflammatory pain.
炎症性疼痛是最常见的临床症状之一，机械性痛觉过敏和热敏感与促炎细胞因子有关，而促炎细胞因子拮抗剂可以减轻这种过敏反应。先前的研究表明，一种中药成分雷公藤红素可以抑制促炎细胞因子；然而，雷公藤红素是否对治疗炎症性疼痛有有益作用仍不清楚。
采用行为学测试研究雷公藤红素对完全弗氏佐剂诱导的急性炎症性疼痛的影响。通过免疫荧光组织化学观察脊髓胶质细胞的激活情况。用 Western blot 检测脊髓中 OX42、胶质纤维酸性蛋白和磷酸化细胞外信号调节激酶的水平，用实时聚合酶链反应检测白细胞介素 1β、白细胞介素 6 和肿瘤坏死因子 α 的信使 RNA 水平。
这些结果表明，雷公藤红素能有效减轻完全弗氏佐剂诱导的炎症性疼痛，其作用机制可能是通过调节磷酸化细胞外信号调节激酶信号通路，抑制脊髓胶质细胞激活，从而下调促炎细胞因子；雷公藤红素可能具有临床应用价值，可作为一种抗炎性疼痛的药物。
本研究首次报道了重复全身给予雷公藤红素可安全预防和逆转炎症性疼痛。雷公藤红素可能是开发治疗炎症性疼痛患者的安全治疗药物的一种新的潜在化合物。
