Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Apr 21:2021:3689829.
doi: 10.1155/2021/3689829. eCollection 2021.

Sanguinarine Attenuates Neuropathic Pain in a Rat Model of Chronic Constriction Injury

Ping Li  1 , Yan-Xiu Wang  2 , Guang Yang  2 , Zun-Cheng Zheng  1 , Chao Yu  2
Affiliations

Sanguinarine Attenuates Neuropathic Pain in a Rat Model of Chronic Constriction Injury

Ping Li et al. Biomed Res Int. .

Abstract

Objective: There is still no effective treatment of neuropathic pain. Sanguinarine is a natural plant medicine with anti-inflammatory effects, but its effect on neuropathic pain remains unclear. This study was aimed at investigating the potential of sanguinarine to attenuate neuropathic pain.

Methods: Neuropathic pain was induced by chronic constriction injury (CCI) of the sciatic nerve. Rats were randomly divided into several groups: sham, CCI, CCI+SG (1.00 mg/kg), CCI+SG (2.50 mg/kg), and CCI+SG (6.25 mg/kg). SG was injected intraperitoneally from the day of surgery every three days. The mechanical withdrawal threshold (MWT) and thermal withdrawal latency (TWL) were recorded before surgery and on days 1, 3, 7, and 14 after surgery. The microglia in the spinal dorsal horn were examined by immunofluorescence. p38 MAPK expression in the spinal dorsal horn was detected by PCR and Western blot analysis. Cytokine levels in the spinal dorsal horn were measured by ELISA.

Results: MWT and TWL were significantly reduced in the CCI group, but sanguinarine recovered MWT and TWL in the CCI group. In addition, sanguinarine inhibited the activation of microglia and decreased the expression of p-p38 and TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 in the spinal dorsal horn of the CCI group in a dose-dependent manner.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that sanguinarine can attenuate neuropathic pain via inhibiting the activation of microglia and the activation of the p38 MAPK signaling pathway.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The effects of sanguinarine on mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia of CCI Rats. (a) MWT in each group. (b) TWL in each group. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 12). ∗p < 0.05 vs. sham group, #p < 0.05 vs. CCI group.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The effects of sanguinarine on IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-6 levels in the spinal dorsal horn. (a) IL-1β levels. (b) TNF-α levels. (c) IL-6 levels. Data are shown as mean ± SEM (n = 3). ∗p < 0.05 vs. sham group, #p < 0.05 vs. CCI group.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The effects of sanguinarine on microglia in the spinal dorsal horn. (a–e) IHC staining of IBA1-positive microglia in each group. (f–j) DAPI staining of the nuclei of microglia in each group. (k–o) Merging of IBA-1 and DAPI staining. Scale bar = 10 μm. (p) Quantitative analysis of IBA1-positive microglia in each group. Data are shown as mean ± SEM (n = 3). ∗p < 0.05 vs. sham group, #p < 0.05 vs. CCI group.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The effects of sanguinarine on the activation of p38 in the spinal dorsal horn. (a) Western blot analysis of p-p38, p38, and β-actin protein levels in the spinal cord in each group. (b) Densitometry analysis of p-p38 protein levels in the spinal cord in each group. (c) Densitometry analysis of p38 protein levels in the spinal cord in each group. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 3). ∗p < 0.05 vs. sham group, #p < 0.05 vs. CCI group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Bouhassira D., Lanteri-Minet M., Attal N., Laurent B., Touboul C. Prevalence of chronic pain with neuropathic characteristics in the general population. Pain. 2008;136(3):380–387. doi: 10.1016/j.pain.2007.08.013. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Jensen T. S., Baron R., Haanpaa M., et al. A new definition of neuropathic pain. Pain. 2011;152(10):2204–2205. doi: 10.1016/j.pain.2011.06.017. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Grace P. M., Hutchinson M. R., Manavis J., Somogyi A. A., Rolan P. E. A novel animal model of graded neuropathic pain: utility to investigate mechanisms of population heterogeneity. Journal of Neuroscience Methods. 2010;193(1):47–53. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2010.08.025. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Terayama R., Omura S., Fujisawa N., Yamaai T., Ichikawa H., Sugimoto T. Activation of microglia and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase in the dorsal column nucleus contributes to tactile allodynia following peripheral nerve injury. Neuroscience. 2008;153(4):1245–1255. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2008.03.041. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Jeng J. H., Wu H. L., Lin B. R., et al. Antiplatelet effect of sanguinarine is correlated to calcium mobilization, thromboxane and cAMP production. Atherosclerosis. 2007;191(2):250–258. doi: 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2006.05.023. - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms