title: Antinociceptive efficacy of verticinone in murine models of inflammatory pain and paclitaxel induced neuropathic pain.
abstract: Verticinone, an isosteroidal alkaloid separated from Bulbus Fritillaria (Chinese name "Bei-mu"), was evaluated for its analgesic activities in murine models of inflammatory and neuropathic pain. It was shown that oral administarion of verticinone could significantly inhibit acetic acid-induced writhing response in a dose-dependent way, and the writhing inhibition of 3 mg/kg verticinone was 66.2%, which was approximately higher than that of 200 mg/kg aspirin. In the formalin test, a high dose of (3 mg/kg) verticinone could inhibit the nociceptive response of both phases, but the lower dose (1.5 mg/kg) could only inhibit the second phase response, which suggested that verticinone might exert its analgesic effect through both central and peripheral mechanisms. In addition, in formalin and acetic acid tests, the spontaneous locomotive activities of the mice treated with verticinone were transiently greatly decreased when compared with the vehicle group. In the rat model of paclitaxel induced neuropathic pain, in contrast to the declined analgesic effect of morphine after repeated administration with the same dose, a relatively constant analgesic effect of verticinone was observed. These investigations suggested that verticinone could exert a good antinociceptive effect on inflammatory pain and cancer-related neuropathic pain probably through both peripheral and central mechanisms, and it might be partly involved with some sedation effects. Verticinone is expected to become a potentially novel sedative-analgesic agent without producing tolerance and dependence, but further studies are still urgently needed to elucidate the precise mechanisms and activities of it.
authors: Department of Pharmacy, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, China. xufztj@yahoo.com.cn
authors: Fangzhou
authors: F
authors: Xu
authors: Shongzhou
authors: S
authors: Xu
authors: Lijun
authors: L
authors: Wang
authors: Chuntao
authors: C
authors: Chen
authors: Xueqing
authors: X
authors: Zhou
authors: Yuzhen
authors: Y
authors: Lu
authors: Huihui
authors: H
authors: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000700:Analgesics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000818:Animals; D002595:Cevanes / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D007249:Inflammation / Q000188:drug therapy*; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010146:Pain / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D010523:Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced*
chemical_list: D000700:Analgesics; D002595:Cevanes; C014242:verticine; D017239:Paclitaxel