Levo-tetrahydropalmatine attenuates oxaliplatin-induced mechanical hyperalgesia in mice

Common chemotherapeutic agents such as oxaliplatin often cause neuropathic pain during cancer treatment in patients. Such neuropathic pain is difficult to treat and responds poorly to common analgesics, which represents a challenging clinical issue. Corydalis yanhusuo is an old traditional Chinese medicine with demonstrated analgesic efficacy in humans. However, the potential analgesic effect of its active component, levo-tetrahydropalmatine (l-THP), has not been reported in conditions of neuropathic pain. This study found that l-THP (1–4 mg/kg, i.p.) produced a dose-dependent anti-hyperalgesic effect in a mouse model of chemotherapeutic agent oxaliplatin-induced neuropathic pain. In addition, we found that the anti-hyperalgesic effect of l-THP was significantly blocked by a dopamine D(1) receptor antagonist SCH23390 (0.02 mg/kg), suggesting a dopamine D(1) receptor mechanism. In contrast, l-THP did not significantly alter the general locomotor activity in mice at the dose that produced significant anti-hyperalgesic action. In summary, this study reported that l-THP possesses robust analgesic efficacy in mice with neuropathic pain and may be a useful analgesic in the management of neuropathic pain.