Scuteri Damiana, Hamamura Kengo, Sakurada Tsukasa, Watanabe Chizuko, Sakurada Shinobu, Morrone Luigi Antonio, Rombolà Laura, Tonin Paolo, Bagetta Giacinto, Corasaniti Maria Tiziana
Pharmacotechnology Documentation and Transfer Unit, Section of Preclinical and Translational Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacy, Health and Nutritional Sciences, University of Calabria, Rende, Italy.
Regional Center for Serious Brain Injuries, S. Anna Institute, Crotone, Italy.
Front Pharmacol. 2021 Mar 1;12:640128. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.640128. eCollection 2021.
The demand for essential oils (EOs) has been steadily growing over the years. This is mirrored by a substantial increase in research concerned with EOs also in the field of inflammatory and neuropathic pain. The purpose of this present systematic review and meta-analysis is to investigate the preclinical evidence in favor of the working hypothesis of the analgesic properties of EOs, elucidating whether there is a consistent rational basis for translation into clinical settings. A literature search has been conducted on databases relevant for medical scientific literature, i.e., PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science from database inception until November 2, 2020, following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) criteria for systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The search was conducted in order to answer the following PICOS (participants/population, interventions, comparisons, outcomes, and study design) question: are EOs efficacious in reducing acute nociceptive pain and/or neuropathic pain in mice experimental models? The search retrieved 2,491 records, leaving 954 studies to screen after the removal of duplicates. The title and abstract of all 954 studies were screened, which left 127 records to evaluate in full text. Of these, 30 articles were eligible for inclusion. Most studies (27) assessed the analgesic properties of EOs on acute nociceptive pain models, e.g. the acetic acid writhings test, the formalin test, and the hot plate test. Unfortunately, efficacy in neuropathic pain models, which are a more suitable model for human conditions of chronic pain, had fewer results (only three studies). Moreover, some methodologies raised concerns in terms of the risk of bias. Therefore, EOs with proven efficacy in both types of pain were corroborated by methodologically consistent studies, like the EO of bergamot, which should be studied in clinical trials to enhance the translational impact of preclinical modeling on clinical pain research.
多年来，对精油（EOs）的需求一直在稳步增长。这反映在炎症性和神经性疼痛领域中与精油相关的研究也大幅增加。本系统评价和荟萃分析的目的是研究支持精油具有镇痛特性这一工作假设的临床前证据，阐明是否有一致的合理依据将其转化为临床应用。按照系统评价和荟萃分析的PRISMA（系统评价和荟萃分析的首选报告项目）标准，对医学科学文献相关数据库，即从数据库建立至2020年11月2日的PubMed/MEDLINE、Scopus和Web of Science进行了文献检索。进行此次检索是为了回答以下PICOS（参与者/人群、干预措施、对照、结局和研究设计）问题：在小鼠实验模型中，精油在减轻急性伤害性疼痛和/或神经性疼痛方面是否有效？检索共获得2491条记录，去除重复项后剩下954项研究进行筛选。对所有954项研究的标题和摘要进行了筛选，剩下127条记录进行全文评估。其中，30篇文章符合纳入标准。大多数研究（27项）评估了精油对急性伤害性疼痛模型的镇痛特性，如醋酸扭体试验）、福尔马林试验和热板试验。遗憾的是，在神经性疼痛模型（更适合人类慢性疼痛情况的模型）中的疗效研究结果较少（仅有三项研究）。此外，一些方法在偏倚风险方面引发了担忧。因此，在两种类型疼痛中均具有已证实疗效的精油，如佛手柑精油，通过方法学上一致的研究得到了证实，佛手柑精油应在临床试验中进行研究，以增强临床前模型对临床疼痛研究的转化影响。
