title: Procaine Attenuates Pain Behaviors of Neuropathic Pain Model Rats Possibly via Inhibiting JAK2/STAT3.
abstract: Neuropathic pain (NPP) is the main culprit among chronic pains affecting the normal life of patients. Procaine is a frequently-used local anesthesia with multiple efficacies in various diseases. However, its role in modulating NPP has not been reported yet. This study aims at uncovering the role of procaine in NPP. Rats were pretreated with procaine by intrathecal injection. Then NPP rat model was induced by sciatic nerve chronic compression injury (CCI) and behavior tests were performed to analyze the pain behaviors upon mechanical, thermal and cold stimulations. Spinal expression of Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) was detected by qRT-PCR and western blot. JAK2 was also overexpressed in procaine treated model rats for behavior tests. Results showed that procaine pretreatment improved the pain behaviors of model rats upon mechanical, thermal and cold stimulations, with the best effect occurring on the 15(th) day post model construction (p<0.05). Procaine also inhibited JAK2 and STAT3 expression in both mRNA (p<0.05) and protein levels. Overexpression of JAK2 increased STAT3 level and reversed the improvement effects of procaine in pain behaviors (p<0.01). These findings indicate that procaine is capable of attenuating NPP, suggesting procaine is a potential therapeutic strategy for treating NPP. Its role may be associated with the inhibition on JAK2/STAT3 signaling.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pain, Jinan Central Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan 250013, Shandong, China.|Department of Anesthesiology, Binzhou Medical University Hospital, Binzhou 256603, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Donghua
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Binzhou Medical University Hospital, Binzhou 256603, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Yurong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pain, Jinan Central Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan 250013, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Lingzhi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of State-owned Assets Management, Binzhou Medical University Hospital, Binzhou 256603, Shandong, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Duan
keywords: CCI rat model; JAK2/STAT3 signaling; Neuropathic pain; Procaine