Dragon's blood inhibits chronic inflammatory and neuropathic pain responses by blocking the synthesis and release of substance P in rats

J Pharmacol Sci. 2012;118(1):43-54. doi: 10.1254/jphs.11160fp. Epub 2011 Dec 23.

Abstract

As a traditional Chinese medicine, dragon's blood (DB) is widely used in treating various pains for thousands of years due to its potent anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects. In the present study, we observed that intragastric administration of DB at dosages of 0.14, 0.56, and 1.12 g/kg potently inhibited paw edema, hyperalgesia, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) protein expression, or preprotachykinin-A mRNA expression in carrageenan-inflamed or sciatic nerve-injured (chronic constriction injury) rats, respectively. A short-term (15 s or 10 min) pre-exposure of cultured rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons to DB (0.3, 3, and 30 µg/ml) or its component cochinchinenin B (CB; 0.1, 1, and 10 µM) blocked capsaicin-evoked increases in both the intracellular calcium ion concentration and the substance P release. Moreover, a long-term (180 min) exposure of cultured rat DRG neurons to DB or CB significantly attenuated bradykinin-induced substance P release. These findings indicate that DB exerts anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects by blocking the synthesis and release of substance P through inhibition of COX-2 protein induction and intracellular calcium ion concentration. Therefore, DB may serve as a promising potent therapeutic agent for treatment of chronic pain, and its effective component CB might partly contribute to anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Analgesics, Non-Narcotic / chemistry
  • Analgesics, Non-Narcotic / pharmacology
  • Analgesics, Non-Narcotic / therapeutic use*
  • Animals
  • Bradykinin / pharmacology
  • Capsaicin / pharmacology
  • Carrageenan
  • Chalcone / analogs & derivatives
  • Chalcone / analysis
  • Cyclooxygenase 2 / metabolism
  • Drugs, Chinese Herbal / chemistry
  • Drugs, Chinese Herbal / pharmacology
  • Drugs, Chinese Herbal / therapeutic use*
  • Ganglia, Spinal / cytology
  • Ganglia, Spinal / metabolism
  • Inflammation / chemically induced
  • Inflammation / drug therapy*
  • Inflammation / metabolism
  • Male
  • Pain / chemically induced
  • Pain / drug therapy*
  • Pain / metabolism
  • Plant Extracts / chemistry
  • Plant Extracts / pharmacology
  • Plant Extracts / therapeutic use*
  • Protein Precursors / genetics
  • RNA, Messenger / metabolism
  • Rats
  • Rats, Wistar
  • Sciatic Nerve / injuries
  • Substance P / metabolism
  • Tachykinins / genetics

Substances

  • Analgesics, Non-Narcotic
  • Drugs, Chinese Herbal
  • Plant Extracts
  • Protein Precursors
  • RNA, Messenger
  • Tachykinins
  • cochinchinenin
  • preprotachykinin
  • Substance P
  • Chalcone
  • Carrageenan
  • Cyclooxygenase 2
  • Ptgs2 protein, rat
  • dragon's blood
  • Capsaicin
  • Bradykinin