Journal
BIOLOGICAL & PHARMACEUTICAL BULLETIN
Volume 34, Issue 12, Pages 1877-1880Publisher
PHARMACEUTICAL SOC JAPAN
DOI: 10.1248/bpb.34.1877
Keywords
Gelsemium elegans; gelsenicine; neuropathic pain; inflammatory pain; analgesia
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Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [30973520]
- Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province of China [2009J01156]
- Industrial Technology of Fujian Development and Reform Commission of China [958]
- Scientific Research of Fujian Medical University [ZD009]
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Gelsemium elegans BENTH and its crude extract are widely used to treat pain in China despite its apparent toxicity. The analgesic effects of gelsenicine, an active component of G. elegans, however, have not been reported. The current study examined potential analgesic effects of subcutaneously injected gelsenicine using acetic acid-induced writhing, formalin-induced nociceptive behavior, and thermal hyperalgesia caused by chronic constriction injury (CCI) in mice. Gelsenicine produced dose-dependent analgesic effects in both inflammatory and neuropathic pain models. The ED50, for either the inflammatory pain (10.4 mu g/kg for writhing test, 7.4 mu g/kg for formalin test) or neuropathic pain (9.8 mu g/kg for thermal hyperalgesia caused by CCI model), was far below the LD50 (95% confidence interval at 100-200 mu g/kg). Repeated subcutaneous injections of gelsenicine in CCI mice led to sustained attenuation of neuropathic pain after drug discontinuation. These results revealed that gelsenicine could be used safely to attenuate both inflammatory and neuropathic pain.
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