Di Cesare Mannelli, Lorenzo

Ghelardini, Carla

Micheli, Laura

Mugelli, Alessandro

Pacini, Alessandra

English

Florence Research

IJAE Vo l .  119,  n .  1  (Supp lem ent) :  147,  2014© 2014 Firenze University Press ht tp://www.fupress .com/ijaeITALIAN JOURNAL OF ANATOMY AND EMBRYOLOGYAstragalus membranaceus and oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy: pain relief and prevention of nervous tissue modificationsAlessandra Pacini1, Laura Micheli2, Lorenzo Di Cesare Mannelli2, Alessandro Mugelli2, Carla Ghelardini21 School of Human Health, Dept. of Experimental and Clinical Medicine - Anatomy and Histology Section, University of Florence, Italy2 School of Human Health, Dept. NEUROFARBA - Pharmacology and Toxicology Section, University of Florence, ItalyNeurotoxicity is the limiting side effect of the anticancer agent oxaliplatin. A tan-gled panel of symptoms, sensory loss, paresthesia, dysesthesia, pain may be disabling for patients adversely affecting quality of life. Pharmacological treatments demon-strating a therapeutic effect on oxaliplatin’s cumulative neurotoxicity are unsatisfac-tory and limited to symptomatic effects. Astragalus membranaceus is an adaptogenic herb from the traditional Chinese medicine. Aimed to study the antineuropathic profile of this plant, a hydroalcohol-ic extract from selected roots of A. membranaceus was obtained and characterized. A. membranaceus extract was tested in a rat model of painful oxaliplatin-induced neu-ropathy (2.4 mgkg-1 intraperitoneally, daily for 21 days). The extract was administered per os (300 mgkg-1) once a day, starting from the first day of oxaliplatin injection until the 20th. On day 21 A. membranaceus extract treatment was able to significantly reduce oxaliplatin-dependent pain, when evaluated as an increase on suprathreshold stimu-lation (hyperalgesia-related measure) or as a decrease in pain threshold (allodynia-related measure). The extract strongly prevented the serious nephro- and hepato-tox-icity induced by repeated treatment with the anticancer drug. In the nervous system the hydroalcoholic extract reduced the morphometric alterations induced by oxalipl-atin in the dorsal root ganglia, and significantly prevented the changes in the acti-vating transcription factor 3 and in the phosphorylated heavy chain of neurofilament expression levels both in nerves and ganglia. In the dorsal horn of the spinal cord and in pain related cerebral areas A. membranaceus extract prevented the oxaliplatin-induced increase of glial density. The hydroalcoholic extract of Astragalus membranaceus relieves pain and promotes the rescue mechanisms that protect nervous tissue from the damages triggering chronic pain. A safe profile strongly suggests the usefulness of this natural product in oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy.KeywordsChemotherapy, neuropathic pain, microglia, astrocyte, nervous system.

Astragalus membranaceus and oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy: pain relief and prevention of nervous tissue modifications.

https://flore.unifi.it/bitstream/2158/956401/1/astragalus2014.pdf

Astragalus membranaceus and oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy: pain relief and prevention of nervous tissue modifications.

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