Escin alleviates chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathic pain by inducing autophagy in the spinal cord of rats

Abstract

To investigate the effect of escin in relieving chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathic pain in rats and explore and the underlying mechanism. Eighteen SD rats were randomly divided into 3 groups (n=6), including an escin preconditioning group (treated with 4 mg/kg escin on days 1-7 and then with 2 mg/kg taxol on days 8, 10, 12, and 14), an escin postconditioning group (treated with 2 mg/kg taxol on days 1, 3, 5, and 7 and then with 4 mg/mg escin on days 8-14) and control group (treated with 2 mg/kg taxol on days 1, 3, 5, and 7 and then with saline on days 8-14). Mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia of the mice were tested on days 4, 7, 10 and 14, and the expression levels of LC3II and p62 in the spinal cord of the rats were detected using Western blotting. The rats in both the escin preconditioning group and escin postconditioning group showed obviously increased thresholds of mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia as compared with those in the control group (P < 0.01). Western blotting showed that the expression level of LC3II was significantly increased while p62 expression was lowered in escin preconditioning group as compared with those in the control group (P < 0.05). The escin postconditioning group also showed significantly higher LC3II expression and lower p62 expression levels than the control group (P < 0.05). Escin can alleviate chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathic pain in rats possibly by upregulating the expressions of autophagy-related proteins in the spinal cord.