Dasuni Wasana Peththa Wadu, Vajragupta Opa, Rojsitthisak Pornchai, Towiwat Pasarapa
Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technology Program, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
Research Affairs, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 2021 Aug 7;14(8):777. doi: 10.3390/ph14080777.
Chronic pain is a persistent and unremitting condition that has immense effects on patients' quality of life. Studies have shown that neuroinflammation is associated with the induction and progression of chronic pain. The activation of microglia and astrocytes is the major hallmark of spinal neuroinflammation leading to neuronal excitability in the projection neurons. Excessive activation of microglia and astrocytes is one of the major contributing factors to the exacerbation of pain. However, the current chronic pain treatments, mainly by targeting the neuronal cells, remain ineffective and unable to meet the patients' needs. Curcumin, a natural plant product found in the Curcuma genus, improves chronic pain by diminishing the release of inflammatory mediators from the spinal glia. This review details the role of curcumin in microglia and astrocytes both in vitro and in vivo and how it improves pain. We also describe the mechanism of curcumin by highlighting the major glia-mediated cascades in pain. Moreover, the role of curcumin on inflammasome and epigenetic regulation is discussed. Furthermore, we discuss the strategies used to improve the efficacy of curcumin. This review illustrates that curcumin modulating microglia and astrocytes could assure the treatment of chronic pain by suppressing spinal neuroinflammation.
慢性疼痛是一种持续且不间断的病症，对患者的生活质量有巨大影响。研究表明，神经炎症与慢性疼痛的诱发和进展相关。小胶质细胞和星形胶质细胞的激活是脊髓神经炎症导致投射神经元神经元兴奋性的主要标志。小胶质细胞和星形胶质细胞的过度激活是疼痛加剧的主要促成因素之一。然而，目前主要针对神经元细胞的慢性疼痛治疗仍然无效，无法满足患者的需求。姜黄素是姜黄属植物中的一种天然植物产物，通过减少脊髓胶质细胞释放炎症介质来改善慢性疼痛。本综述详细阐述了姜黄素在体外和体内对小胶质细胞和星形胶质细胞的作用以及它如何改善疼痛。我们还通过强调疼痛中主要的胶质细胞介导的级联反应来描述姜黄素的作用机制。此外，还讨论了姜黄素对炎性小体和表观遗传调控的作用。此外，我们讨论了提高姜黄素疗效的策略。本综述表明，姜黄素调节小胶质细胞和星形胶质细胞可以通过抑制脊髓神经炎症来确保慢性疼痛的治疗。
