Abstract
Purpose To investigate whether icariin (ICA), a well-known medicine extracted from the stem and leaf of Epimedium brevicornum Maxim, had analgesic effect on lower back pain (LBP) in rats. Methods In a puncture-induced LBP rat model, the severity of LBP was quantified using the paw/foot withdrawal threshold method after intragastric administration of ICA at a dosage of 50 mg/kg/d or 100 mg/kg/d. The pain-related peptides of substance P (SP) and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) were also measured in intervertebral disc (IVD) tissue using RT-PCR after ICA treatment. In addition, the expression of cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant-1 (CINC-1) in IVD was quantified using RT-PCR and ELISA examination. Results ICA treatment resulted in a significant amelioration of mechanical allodynia in a dose-response manner, and the analgesic effect could last for two weeks even during the washout period. More importantly, the mechanism of analgesic pharmacological effect in ICA was to suppress the upregulated CINC-1, the homolog of IL-8 in rats, which is a crucial proalgesic factor contributing to LBP, in IVDs. Conclusion ICA is a novel herbal extract to relieve LBP, and it may be a promising alternative pain killer in the future.
Highlights
Lower back pain (LBP) is a serious public health problem all over the world, and it consumes a great deal of medical resources [1]
The first hypothesis that we proposed here was whether ICA had an analgesic effect in LBP treatment and whether its effect was comparable to conventional nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)
After puncture of the intervertebral disc (IVD), all rats showed an obvious LBP indicating that the paw/foot withdrawal threshold was significantly decreased when compared to that in the shamsurgery group on the seventh day (Figure 2(a))
Summary
Lower back pain (LBP) is a serious public health problem all over the world, and it consumes a great deal of medical resources [1]. To meet the current and future therapeutic needs, the discovery and validation of new drug targets to effectively control LBP is a major priority for all clinicians. The classical medicine to treat LBP is nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or opioids [3]. They are effective, their side effects, such as gastrointestinal mucosal injury, cardiovascular damage, and drug addiction, are obvious. We effectively alleviated acute or chronic LBP with an alternative Chinese traditional herbal recipe called Zhuchun pills. In the composition of Zhuchun pills, herb Epimedium brevicornum Maxim was considered the key ingredient because it was thought to have a strong association with LBD according to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)
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