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
Review
. 2022 Jul 28:13:20406223221091177.
doi: 10.1177/20406223221091177. eCollection 2022.

Potential roles of gut microbiota and microbial metabolites in chronic inflammatory pain and the mechanisms of therapy drugs

Jia-Shang Li  1 , Shu-Lan Su  2 , Zhuo Xu  1 , Li-Hui Zhao  1 , Ruo-Ying Fan  1 , Jian-Ming Guo  1 , Da-Wei Qian  1 , Jin-Ao Duan  2
Affiliations
Review

Potential roles of gut microbiota and microbial metabolites in chronic inflammatory pain and the mechanisms of therapy drugs

Jia-Shang Li et al. Ther Adv Chronic Dis. .

Abstract

Observational findings achieved that gut microbes mediate human metabolic health and disease risk. The types of intestinal microorganisms depend on the intake of food and drugs and are also related to their metabolic level and genetic factors. Recent studies have shown that chronic inflammatory pain is closely related to intestinal microbial homeostasis. Compared with the normal intestinal flora, the composition of intestinal flora in patients with chronic inflammatory pain had significant changes in Actinomycetes, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, etc. At the same time, short-chain fatty acids and amino acids, the metabolites of intestinal microorganisms, can regulate neural signal molecules and signaling pathways, thus affecting the development trend of chronic inflammatory pain. Glucocorticoids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the treatment of chronic inflammatory pain, the main mechanism is to affect the secretion of inflammatory factors and the abundance of intestinal bacteria. This article reviews the relationship between intestinal microorganisms and their metabolites on chronic inflammatory pain and the possible mechanism.

Keywords: arthritis; chronic inflammatory pain; glucocorticoids; intestinal microflora; nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Relationship between intestinal flora and chronic inflammatory pain.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Regulation of intestinal metabolites on CP.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Improvement mechanisms of anti-inflammatory analgesic drugs based on the regulation of intestinal bacteria and inflammatory factors.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Treede RD, Rief W, Barke A, et al.. Chronic pain as a symptom of a disease: the IASP Classification of Chronic Pain for the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). Pain 2019; 160: 19–27. - PubMed
    1. Magistro G, Wagenlehner FM, Grabe M, et al.. Contemporary management of chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome. Eur Urol 2016; 69: 286–297. - PubMed
    1. Appiya Santharam M, Khan FU, Naveed M, et al.. Interventions to chronic prostatitis/Chronic pelvic pain syndrome treatment. Where are we standing and what’s next? Eur J Pharmacol 2019; 857: 172429. - PubMed
    1. van der Woude D, van der Helm-van Mil AHM. Update on the epidemiology, risk factors, and disease outcomes of rheumatoid arthritis. Best Pract Res Clin Rheumatol 2018; 32: 174–187. - PubMed
    1. Vitkov L, Hannig M, Minnich B, et al.. Periodontal sources of citrullinated antigens and TLR agonists related to RA. Autoimmunity 2018; 51: 304–309. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources