Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

β-Elemene alleviates bone cancer-related pain in rats by modulating N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor 2B subunit

Liyan Gong¹, Hu Cai² , Qinfei Zhou¹, Xiangming Kong¹

¹Comperehensive Medical Oncology, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital; ²Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Zhejiang 310022, China.

For correspondence:- Hu Cai Email: caihucah79@163.com

Accepted: 27 March 2018 Published: 30 April 2018

Citation: Gong L, Cai H, Zhou Q, Kong X. β-Elemene alleviates bone cancer-related pain in rats by modulating N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor 2B subunit. Trop J Pharm Res 2018; 17(4):597-603 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v17i4.5

© 2018 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effect of β-elemene on bone cancer-related pain (BCRP) and its underlying mechanism in a rat model.

Methods: A rat model of BCRP was established by injection of Walker 256 cells into the medullary cavity in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats. The effects of β-elemene on pain-related behaviours were assessed by paw withdrawal mechanical threshold (PWMT) and paw withdrawal thermal latency (PWTL). Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and western blotting were used to analyse the transcription and translation levels of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor 2B subunit (NR2B), respectively.

Results: This study found that PWMT and PWTL were significantly decreased in rats as evidence of successful establishment of a rat model of BCRP. Behavioral test showed that β-elemene treatment could attenuate pain-related behaviours. This analgesic effect began 1 h after drug injection, reached the highest value at 2 h, declined at 4 h, and disappeared by 24 h. qRT-PCR and western blotting indicated that intrathecal administration of β-elemene down-regulated mRNA and protein levels of NR2B.

Conclusion: The results show that β-elemene alleviates behaviours related to pain in a rat model of BCRP probably by modulating NR2B, thus indicating a new potential treatment method for cancer-related pain.

Keywords: β-Elemene, Bone cancer, Pain relief, N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor 2B subunit (NR2B), Sensitisation